日本語 101
Japanese 101

Baka 馬鹿 means Stupid / Idiot 
Chan ちゃん means little one, an honorific usually reserved for children or people who are close friends
Jigoku no Kugutsushi 地獄の傀儡師 means The Puppeteer From Hell
Keisatsu-chō 警察庁 means National Police Agency
Shinigami 死神 means Death God

Date: 31 December 2016

Time: 11.11a.m.

Location: Former Shida Bank Headquarter

The 2014 Shida Bank hostage crisis was hailed by the Keisatsu-chō as one of the most successful hostage crisis save in modern history because it had only taken one person to save the eighty-seven hostages. And the Japanese media were quick to name the crisis as one of the best display of the power of negotiation.

To most, the incident was a mission success.

But was left unspoken to the public was how the crisis became last the last straw that broke the camel's back and turned out to be the darkest day in the Keisatsu-chō history.

It was the day the Jigoku no Kugutsushi had won his battle against the Keisatsu-chō.

It was only those who were in power knew exactly how the aftermath of the crisis had led the Keisatsu-chō to lose their best people.

The disbanding of the National Police Agency Forensic Science Institute Scientific Task-Force (S.T.), and the resignation of their top detective, Kindaichi Hajime.

The Jigoku no Kugutsushi had destroyed the very best of the Keisatsu-chō in one move.

A blond hair man in his late twenties was staring at the ruined site where the most memorable hostage crisis in Japan recent history with an unreadable look. It was only moments later when he moved to leave a bouquet of sunflowers at the glass door in front of the building.

It was where he last saw her and he would return there without fail just to be with her again.

In the past two years, he gave himself no time to grieve. Because he knew that she would never allowed him to. She would rather have him move on by solving this mystery.

She would have considered that the outcome of her action as a noteworthy win just like many others by giving him a smirk.

She would have wanted him to celebrate her display of brilliance than to cry for her loss.

“Kindai-baka, I told you I will save them all, didn’t I?” He could almost imagine her grinning proudly at him every time he looked at the dreaded glass doors which led to her last act of heroic.

He should have celebrated too in her name simply because she had proven to everyone that she was truly the best profiler ever by freeing the hostages by breaking through their Stockholm Syndrome. An achievement which no other profiler could do despite having countless interviews with all the hostages after the incident.

All the detectives and profilers were working together trying to piece the last moment of the incident together, but none of the hostages were willing to speak to any of them about what really took place.

They had nothing to say except that “Aoyama Sho traded her freedom for their freedom.”

Her last troubling words according to all hostages was simply “I am back where you wanted me to be, now release them. It’s either them or me, there is no other way to escape death today.”

And she said it confidently without a hint of fear.

Some said that she was a warrior who looked at death in his eyes and smirked smugly.

The sound of praises was what which was now echoed at the mention of her name anywhere, the brilliant and fearless heroine who saved everyone.

He was proud of her. But he could not bring himself to celebrate her efforts and achievement at all.

But he could not feel any emotions other than dread now. Not without her beside him.

Clutching her staff pass in his fist, the former top detective Kindaichi Hajime choked back on the urge to cry out the name of the very person he wanted to meet again. The very person who had unknowingly stayed in his heart without asking him.

‘Sho-chan, I miss you,’ he raised a hand to cover his mouth in hope to stop himself from saying his thoughts out. Yet at the contact of his face, he was astounded to find out that his tears have crept down his cheeks unknowingly.

“Return her pass to me, I should be the one holding it! A Shinigami like you have no rights to hold her pass. You have done nothing but to cause her death, “a familiar cold voice startled Kindaichi Hajime out of his thoughts, causing him to look up to face the sudden appearance of Akagi Samon, the former leader of the Scientific Taskforce.   

The lonesome wolf of S.T. glared heatedly at the young detective.

He could not forget that it was the man in front of him who led his best profiler straight to the hands of the Jigoku no Kugutsushi.

“If it wasn’t for you, the Jigoku no Kugutsushi would never have taken an interest in Aoyama