Yako stared quietly at the door in front of her.
There was a huge difference from last night and today. Last night, Yako was sleepy, slightly sedated, and she quietly brushed the effects of the dream away with one hand. That was last night.
This morning however, she awoke with one simple truth: She was going have to meet Neuro later on that afternoon. And this was a guy you cannot keep secrets from. If he wanted to know what color panties she was wearing, he would passively-aggressively torture her until she told him, or grab her by the ankles, flip her over and find out himself. Either way, he always finds the truth.
And so, here she was; hesitating to go inside the Investigation office. Hesitating because she knew if she let one hint of that dream slip, Neuro would pounce on her. Literally.
She was already five minutes late because of this hesitation. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Yako opened the door and with a smile said, “Hello everyone!”
The first (and last) thing she saw was Neuro leaping into the air and twisting out a helicopter kick. Yako caught the scent of fine leather before it slammed into her jaw. The poor girl flew across the room before crashing into the office bathroom.
Even Akane had to wince as Yako’s form exploded on impact and the door to the bathroom involuntarily closed. Neuro landed gracefully with a smug look on his face. He paused, obviously waiting for something.
FLUSH! Came from behind the closed door.
Neuro, with that s**t-eating grin plastered on his face, quietly sat back down behind his giant crimson desk. A moment later, a disheveled toilet paper covered Yako stumbled out of the bathroom. With bacterial soap dripping down her back, she cried out, “Why did you do that for!”
“Don’t be late next time,” Neuro tells her simply.
“I was only five minutes late!”
“That’s five minutes too long.”
Yako doesn’t even know why she bothers arguing. Taking a moment for herself, she slips her arms into her soap ruined sweater and pulls it over her head. Underneath she still has on her short-sleeve school shirt. Looking at her poor ruined sweater and grimacing, she didn’t notice Neuro’s dark form looming over her.
Two hands slapped upon her shoulders and she was spun around to face him. Teeth baring, eyes shining, he descended upon her like a an owl upon its prey. With a deep seated growl he said, “I didn’t notice before because it was so faint…you smell of a mystery…”
Yako felt her heart stop. Mind reeling back to that dream, back to that…vision of the future, she panicked.
In a scant second of overwrought emotions flying through her, she threw off Neuro’s hands and smacked him across the face.
Stunned silence.
Neuro has been stabbed, shot, beaten, and blown up, so of course a small slap from an a hundred pound girl isn’t going to hurt him. It just surprised the hell out of him that his slave would dare to do so.
For Yako, she knew at that moment she was going to die.
People who were crossing the street at that time, looked up to the sky as they heard some sort of screaming off in the distance. Was it a bird? A plane?
Inside, one can only guess what had happened. Somehow, Neuro found a way to stuff poor Yako into the cushions of the couch. The girl struggled to unzip her way out.
Dusting his hands free from that insidious deed, Neuro said, “I’ll let this mystery slide for now Yako. It’s too small for me to enjoy, so I’ll let it fester and grow until it becomes something more appealing.”
Yako ripped her way out of the cushion, gasping for breath. She heard what he said. And she was right- there was no way she was going to hide this from him. He was going to find out one way or another.
She felt her cheeks burn from shame and embarrassment. She should invest in an online diary.
“Collect yourself louse,” Neuro told her. “A much bigger mystery is about to enter our office.”
As if on cue, the door to the office swung open and a girl walked inside. Yako, still struggling to kick the cover off of her, saw this particular girl was wearing the same required footwear as her. Lifting her head to peek over the coffee table, the girl standing hesitantly near the door wore the same school outfit as hers. Not a classmate, but a fellow peer.
“Hello,” The pretty brunette spoke slowly. “I am looking for Yako Katsuragi…is she here?”
Neuro pointed to the table. “Sensei was busy inspecting the carpet for dirt. She says she wants to clean the whole office later today.”
Great. Now Neuro had her on cleaning duty.
The girl crossed the room and politely squatted in front of Yako. She pulled out a photo and held it out for her to see. It was a picture of a boy. He had light brown hair, brown eyes and a toothy cocky grin.
“This is my brother,” The girl explained. “And I think he’s been murdered.”
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The girl introduced herself as Rika Kanan, a sophomore at Yako’s high school. Her brother, Gin, a senior. According to the police files Rika handed to Yako, Gin left school one day and never came home. People simply assumed he ran away. After a month of extensive searches and with no body, the case was dropped and Gin was labeled as a ‘runaway.’
After the awkward formalities were done, Yako politely sat Rika down on the couch and offered her a cup of tea. Rika declined, very anxious to tell her tale.
“My brother worked at the Dante almost every single night-“
“I’m sorry,” Yako winced, feeling guilty because she had to interrupt. “The what?”
“Dante,” Rika said, taken back. “You go to our school, you must know…”
“Um…”
“It’s a club,” She said, throwing Yako disapproving looks. “A very popular night club. Everyone I know has gone to that club.”
Yako tried not to laugh stupidly at herself. Had Rika asked her where she could find the best Italian on this side of Japan, she could give her the name, the address, the menu, its prices and her favorite dishes. Ask her about clubs, and Yako would simply ask, “Soda or sandwiches?”
Sometimes she wonders if she does think about food too often.
Rika waved off Yako’s ignorance. “Gin loves working there. He gets free drinks, plays around with the music, gets to meet all the girls he wants…then one night he didn’t come home,” Her eyes welled up with tears. “His boss says he never came in for work, which is a lie! I know he went in that night! I know his boss killed him!”
Neuro slapped the police file on Gin on the table, making both of the girls jump. “Although sensei here is a brilliant investigator, she needs more evidence to call this a murder case other than your gut instinct. If his body was never found, how do you know he was killed, sensei wants to know.”
Rika looked down to her hands, grasping them and twisting them nervously. She opened her mouth then closed it. A few tears fell down her cheeks. She didn’t have an answer other than that: Her gut told her.
“It’s because she’s his sister,” Yako spoke up. “Who would know better than a sibling? Rika, if you think Gin was murdered, then I believe you.”
Rika sobbed into her hands. “Thank you…you’re the only one who does…”
Yako threw Neuro a dark glare, telling him to keep his rude comments to himself. The only reason she was here is to play the role of a human being. She can’t do that if Neuro keeps playing the role of an arrogant jackass.
Thankfully, the demon got the hint and backed off. This was her element, let her do it.
“But…” Yako gently placed an arm over Rika’s shaking form. “What makes you suspicious of Gin’s boss?”
“B-because his boss, Li Shiroyama, is a vampire!”
Both investigators resisted the urge to snort. “A vampire?”
“Gin told me. He says he never sees his boss before sunset, he never sees him eat or sleep-“
“Well…that certainly makes him eccentric, but I don’t think it makes him a vampire…”
Rika flashed angry eyes at her. “You just told me you believed me! He’s a vampire! My brother found out Shiroyama was a vampire and that’s why he was killed!”
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After Rika had left with a promise from Yako that she’ll look into her case, she turned to Neuro. He was already at his computer, silently tapping away.
“Neuro…there really aren’t vampires, is there?” Even after all she has seen, she considered the thoughts of vampires, ghosts and goblins as superstitious nonsense. Still, here was a real life demon sitting in front of her; who’s to say the characters out of Bram Stroker’s novel aren’t real?
He scoffed. “There’s no such thing. There are certain demons in hell who feed on the blood of humans, but they prefer to rip apart their victims and drink the viscera that pools out.”
Yako slapped a hand over her mouth and resisted the urge to gag. Why did he have to explain it that way? “What are you looking at?” She asked him after her moment of nausea passed.
“Dante’s website. I want to see what time it opens. I am very curious to see what this place looks like.”
“So what time do they open? Six? Seven?”
“Eleven.”
“Wow, that’s late,” she commented. Neuro looked up from the computer and gave her his usual schadenfreude grin. She then knew what he meant. “Eh? Neuro I can’t come! It’s a school night!”
She gave off a squeal as two fingers poked her in irises. “What is that I heard? Is my slave actually saying she cares more about herself than me?”
Yup, this was definitely the real Neuro. The only difference between real world Neuro and dream Neuro is, dream Neuro was more violating.
Rubbing her sore red eyes, Yako moaned, “Perhaps…I could go home and take a nap so I won’t be tired when the time comes.”
“That’s fine,” Neuro went back to type on the computer. “Be here by ten-thirty. If you’re late…” He left her to fill in the adjective.
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A/N: Holy crap! I didn’t realize so many people would like this! I just wanted to add a little more sexual tension to the Neuro series. I’m glad that’s what everybody wants: Sexual tension. (We’re all pervs. Admit it.) But thank you all for your kind words! (Much thanks to estrela jem for pointing out my embarrassing grammar mistakes. Oh god, I suck!)
Sorry you crazy fan girls, it was just a dream. Otherwise that would make Neuro OOC. But there’s a reason why the fic is called “Butter Knife.” Any guesses?
Geez, you wouldn’t believe how many drafts I went through for this second chapter. (I know I’m rambling, it’s my fic, be quiet.) First, I wanted the mystery to take place at a stripper bar, but as I wrote it out, I didn’t like the way it was going. Then I wrote about Yako, Neuro, and Godai investigating a witch out in the woods. A thousand words into it, I realized I just ripped off the Blair Witch Project. A couple of more failures, I finally landed on this. I hope you guys enjoyed it so far, because what you’ve read here is days of agonizing writing torture.
Anyhoo, R/R!
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