Chapter Twenty Three - The Face

  After a requested discharge from the hospital, I immediately went back into action, for there was investigation to be done. The culprit behind the killings of MC-13 may have been captured, but my definite evidence suggests that that won’t be the end of it. A man by the name of Raziel Seishi still remains unfound, and finding out where he resides will be a much more taxing task than ever before. As long as he, the Flawless, remains free, this nightmare will never cease to exist.

  Before leaving the premises of the hospital, I picked up my detective’s coat from the cloakroom. It has seen better days, and after that last skirmish, I am afraid that it can no longer be considered as a wearable piece of clothing. It was riddled with tears, cuts, and stains. A few places were also affected with bloodied holes, such as one of the sleeves. If there was anything that served to show that I am a detective who has gone through hell and back, it would be this piece of attire. However, I am seriously considering getting a new one despite all the adventures we endured together. We might be dealing with many witnesses and key identities on our hunt for the Flawless, and just as it happened with Lilli, the archive girl, I don’t think that scaring these people is something we would want. With that in mind, I brought it along with me and left the hospital with my proper clothes on once again.

  The Face is supposedly confined within the holding cells of the DPD, and that is where I am headed next. If there is a good starting point for this manhunt, it would be the only person who worked directly under the Flawless. I still don’t know the exact relations between these two, but I do know that the girl did the bidding for the man. One thing I was hoping for was the chance that the forensics team managed to uncover her identity and name. However, as was the case with Raziel, the odds are against me, as her name is probably not in any public records. My only option is to conduct an interrogation effort myself, and hope that there is something to unearth.

  My car was currently stuck in Glason District, several tens of miles away from me, and I was left with no choice but to walk on foot all the way to the DPD, which was about two kilometers away. I could have never guessed that I would have to take this stroll twice in such a short succession. However, it gave me plenty of time to think about my options.

  Debrief’s proposal – if an actual team is assembled, it would tremendously increase our manpower. Right now, that is precisely what is needed, as scouring the city could take days, weeks, or even months. There is no telling that the Flawless couldn’t flee the city in that time. Thinking about it more, there are several bright minds that I would like to work with, that being Faust, and even Debrief himself, assuming he has the guts to pick up this chase. Having a theoretical amount of three S-tiers on our team, I think that the task of finding one man out of a million is not so impossible as it seemed.

  There are several ways I could go about searching for the Flawless. The name is known – all that is left is to find him. It seems so close, but in reality, this really isn’t much. It took me a little over two weeks to set a target – how long could it take to hit the bullseye?

  I thought about potential strategies for quite a while. We could head into the Filianore archives and look for any mention of the Flawless’ name. We could look into the regularities of MC-13 and devise a point of interest. Nevertheless, that was only a small sample of what I thought. Enough time had passed for me to arrive to the DPD.

  The place looked the same as ever, even after Debrief’s takeover – I suppose that he hadn’t the time to refurbish yet. The detectives and their underlings still frowned upon the sight of me, but I still paid no mind to it, especially after my recent success. However, even though it was physically the same as before, an air of hospitality filled the place. Now that Debrief isn’t out to get me anymore, I didn’t have to struggle for every second. That extended to my workplace, too, and being here seems a lot more tolerable now. I no longer felt like an imposter – just someone people envied.

  The holding cells’ main usage is to detain criminals until their trials are held, and their verdict is cast. But in the Face’s case, she will be held for thorough questioning. I don’t intend to sentence her just yet, as the case is not over. For now, she will rot in her cell until I decide to change my mind. That is the power of being the Head Detective on a case – only I can decide when the case is done. As for the cells’ location, they are in the research wing, but a floor lower. Hastily, I paced straight towards that place.

  If you could consider the DPD segment of the building friendly, then the holding cells are the opposite of that. They are the most soul-draining spaces one could lay their eyes upon. There is barely any decoration, and cells themselves are not much more luxurious than an average prison. This is the fate of criminals that face the hand of law – to remain halted in our grasp. This is where the Face ended up after her countless life-taking actions, and that is where she will succumb.

  If I were to assume which particular cell she is in, it is probably the Supreme Cell, where the most dangerous people are kept. I have met many criminals throughout my life, and the Face is indisputably amongst those ranks. When the word ‘dangerous’ is said, it refers to people who have no troubles breaking out of iron bars and cages. There have only been a few whose existence required the Supreme Cell, but they were some of our most fearsome opponents. It is only fitting that the Face ended up in such a place.

  My assumption was right – a large, fortified glass wall displayed the Face, whose wings have been clipped, and she had no means of escape. Observing her were Sylphie and Debrief, which only showed that the posh detective did indeed have a keen interest in MC-13. My appearance woke them up from concentration, from the looks of it.

  “Quite the residence you gave her,” I gestured towards them.

  “A most befitting punishment to what can only be the suspect of MC-13,” Debrief added.

  “Wrong – this isn’t the main suspect. Hell no, this is just an appetizer in comparison!”

  Debrief looked at me with a confused expression, showing that he himself was unaware of the distinction between the Face and the Flawless. It only makes sense, after all – he is not this case’s detective.

  “Yeah, an appetizer, you heard me. This lassie is only a cog in a much greater machine.”

  “That I assumed, hence why I offered you a team, Detective Capleaf.”

  “Right, as for that, I still haven’t decided. Either way, I am here to check on my trophy, and maybe speak with her, if possible.”

  “Sylphie was unable to establish communication,” she interjected.

  “The suspect isn’t cooperating, as Detective Moore said.”

  The dynamic between these two is strange, to say the least. Ever since Debrief’s pitiful attempt at chivalry, I considered him to be some kind of a predator, honestly. He is weirdly close to Sylphie at any given moment, and I don’t know what to think about it.

  “Well then, either you haven’t tried hard enough, or your ‘hard’ is just not sufficient! Let me try it.”

  I made way between them, and walked right over to the opaque glass wall. I wasn’t familiar with the technology of this place, or the fancy console to the side of the room with camera access to the inside of the cell. The only thing I thought of was to tap at the glass, hoping to invoke some kind of reaction from the Face.

  However, it was to no avail. Instead, she defied expectations and sat in that exact same way her victims were positioned. It was quite bizarre seeing a living being act like that after seeing only corpses. Not only that, but she was doing it consciously, as if it was her way of denying us. As I looked at her through the window, she was facing our way, but not at us. Her face was rugged, and a few scars were present. Her hair was silver-tinted and tidied into bangs. That hand that suffered damage in the battle between her and Faust seems to have received medical attention, as it is now wrapped in bandages, seemingly whole. As for her eyes, they were completely blank, devoid of life. However, she was alive – she just refused to communicate with us.

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  I was visibly thinking about how to communicate with her when Sylphie gestured to me that I am supposed to be using a microphone by the console, and that she cannot hear me through the glass wall. Knowing that, I sat down by the console, and before me was a large screen showing live footage from the Supreme Cell. Then, I spoke through the microphone.

  “Hey, can you remember me? Or rather, can you remember this voice?”

  My peers looked at me as if I was doing something uncouth by talking to the criminal like that, but I saw a bit of humor in it. Regardless, the Face remained unmoving despite my brief attempt. So, I decided to continue.

  “I am assuming you can hear me, and that you know who I am – then, would you care to introduce yourself?”

  The camera was surprisingly high quality, allowing me to see the faint moment where the Face turned her eyes towards the camera. She was just as stubborn as she looked, and it was up to me to break that ice.

  “Just so you know, there is nothing I can find out from knowing your name. I can’t connect it with anything, nor can I use it to investigate. The reason I am asking is very simple, it’s just a part of basic etiquette.”

  Still, no desired reaction. Instead, she only went back to her usual spot.

  “As for where I am in the investigation, I can guarantee you that finding your boss is now within reach. You won’t be getting out any time soon, so you might as well help us out and possibly even reduce your sentence.”

  Reducing her sentence is indeed a possibility, but it would require that she receives time to serve, and not the death penalty. Given that she is most likely responsible for most of the deaths of MC-13, I think it goes without saying what she deserves.

  “Do you understand? You pretty much lost, and this conversation we could be having would only work towards your benefit.”

  I didn’t expect her to cooperate, to be honest. This is going just as I imagined it – a stubborn murderous girl that is being pouty towards us.

  “That is why the least you can start with is by introducing yourself.”

  Her name would truly be of no use in my case, as she has already been captured, and the predicament the Seishi name is in would render it useless, too.

  “I am assuming that your surname is Seishi, given what we know. If you won’t tell us your whole name, we’ll just have to assign you a criminal number, or something. I’m not exactly a picky person with things like these.”

  After hearing that, she twisted her whole head towards the camera, and moved her lips, as if she was ready to speak.

  “Lori… Seishi.”

  All three of us behind the glass were surprised to know that she actually said something. I don’t know what exactly I said made it so, but it was certainly welcome. Sylphie looked through the glass wall, having an expression of surprise written on her face. So, we now know that her name is Lori Seishi, the person responsible for skewering hundreds of people, and the true identity of the Face.

  Knowing her actual name – it seems to almost humanize her. However, that only made her seem more frightening. She looked to be barely in her twenties, yet she has caused so much havoc and destruction? If the timeline is taken into consideration, then Lori was at some point appointed to do what the Flawless once did. That transition must have involved painstaking training, as there were never any errors with her killing. From the start of her being as the Face, she was a cold and merciless killer. Knowing that makes it seem more worrying as to what the Flawless is actually capable of. He recruited an entire person to work for him and commit murders in his stead. Not to mention the fact that these two share the same name – could they be daughter and father? No, that would be beyond twisted. The Flawless raised a child in order to kill, and that would explain her inhuman capabilities of combat and precision. It is said that training an adult is a lot less efficient than a young child, because children are inherently better at learning. The Flawless was studying to become a doctor, and so he may have known this, and willingly turned his offspring into a tool for wreaking demise.

  “Are you fully aware of your crimes and the atrocities you have committed?”

  This time, she looked willing to speak, but something about her suggested that she wasn’t able to. Her look of confusion, combined with her willingness to talk right now gave me the impression that she lacked the words to express herself. Was she really that neglected, and only trained to commit senseless murder? With that in mind, I rephrased the question.

  “Do you know that you are a murderer?”

  She thought for a moment, wondering about my words. “I am no murderer. Me, Father – we are divine.”

  Those words were deeply infuriating to a detective. She claims to not be a murderer, despite the fact that she tried to skewer me like a roasted pig several times? It was downright upsetting to hear that. She and the Flawless made the conscious decision to become killers, and then claim that it has nothing to do with murder. It only served as a reminder to not treat them like people, for they have already cast away their humanity.

  Additionally, she really does have trouble speaking. When she mentioned herself and the father, who can only be presumed to be Raziel, her intonation was rather oscillating, going up and down in tone and volume. It sounded like she was stopping herself from saying more after she named the two people, one being herself. The Face turned out to be quite a peculiar person.

  “Lori, is your father a person by the name of Raziel Seishi?”

  This was the question that would alleviate all my doubts. If she claimed this to be true, then our sights would finally be aimed at something concrete. On our side of the glass wall, I was met with surprise from Sylphie and Debrief alike, as it was the first time I mentioned knowing the Flawless’ name. Even though she did not reply yet, and actually took some time to think about her response, it must be true. She showed up out of nowhere to kill the aunt of Raziel, that is no coincidence. The sheer fact that the Face turned up with malicious intent is proof that there was something to suppress, and that is the identity of her father.

  “Yes. That is Father.”

  It was very strange for her to be admitting this, though. She basically outed her own blood. However, it didn’t seem like she did it to save herself, but more as a challenge. The way she said it made it appear as if she was challenging me to find him. She was confident that I couldn’t do it.

  “Are there any other accomplices?”

  She silenced herself for a moment, and then spoke. “Yes.”

  A single word shattered my hopes – I was thinking that there would be only the task of finding Raziel, but unfortunately, there is more to be found. Knowing that there is more filth running about Misult City, it brought me back to the realistic plane of thinking. Up until now, I thought that it would be smooth sailing all the way to the Flawless, but that was only wishful thinking, it seems. Perhaps she would care to tell us their name?

  “Who are they?”

  As expected, she turned her head back to her normal position, and turned down any further communication with me. This wasn’t going to get any easier, in fact. I would even dare say that it was about to get harder for a plethora of reasons. One of them is that the Flawless knows about me. The act of attempting to kill Heather is a direct ploy to hide his own tracks, and it only failed because I got there before he did. He is actively working against me, and the fact that there is yet another figure to be wary of could prove to be quite troublesome. Our lives might very well be at stake directly.

  There are a few things to be expected of this second adversary. Their name is undoubtedly Seishi, as has been the case with Lori over there. However, they might be playing a different role than being the executioner. There was never an occurrence where two of the same MC-13 related murders happened at once, which proves that this second person might have a more pragmatic role to play.

  “I think we have exhausted the leads from her for now,” I turned towards the group.

  “Sylphie thinks so, too. She is obviously not willing to give up her allies.”

  “It would put her lead under great scrutiny, to say the least.”

  “Well then – now is the part where we have to do things on our own again. Any ideas?”

  In truth, I knew exactly what needed to happen. What we needed was sufficient brains to figure out where the Flawless could be hiding. There was only one way that could be arranged, and Debrief himself offered that option to me.

  It may be time to expand our team.