Force Field

How would one start with this kind of case? I will do exactly like how I would in my detective days.

Aki has suspicions of someone stalking him. He has no proof alongside this, but he does believe that this person’s hideout is in a forest. Wherever his information comes from isn’t important, it might be a small joke he’s pulling on me, but I have nothing else to do other than train Nicolas.

Even though I think Aki is making a joke out of me, someone has been stalking me for the past 20 minutes. And I’ve been circling a city block the entire time. I can tell that it is a female, she is roughly 165cm tall, light toned skin, she has a hood so I can’t get that good of a view from her.

I can’t go back to the lab in case this person is trying to reach Aki, I can’t go to my house because it is just an invasion of privacy and I can’t go to my mission because she could be going against me. That’s why I have been circling this block of buildings for the past 20 minutes. I should probably confront her.

While looping around the block for the third time, I notice a fire escape inside an alleyway. I walk in naturally to break sight with her. I then ran and jumped on a dumpster. Afterwards, I jumped onto the first floor’s fire escape. I made sure that the ladder to get up her is inaccessible so she wouldn’t figure out that I’m up here.

As I’ve expected, the person followed me into the alleyway. She made sure to walk slowly, making not a single sound. But I’ve already got her cornered. As she walked deeper in, I jumped down from up, landing right behind her.

“You’re stalking me.” I suddenly said.

“Wah!” She screamed out in fear. “S-Sir… It is not good to scare young ladies like that.” She spoke nervously.

I could see her now more clearly. She had brown eyes, short black hair and glasses while also holding a purse. She looked like she was in her early 20s.

“Answer me, why are you following me?” I spoke in a threatening voice. “If you don’t, I will report you to the police.”

She sighed. “Alright fine…” She took a small notebook from her purse. “Takida-San! I am a very huge fan of yours, can I please get a hand signature from you?!”

“What?” I got confused.

“I am a very big fan of your detective work!” She held the notebook in my direction. “I have always been a fan. But I also wondered why you quit.”

“That information is classified.” I then said. I took the notebook and wrote my hand signature. “Please do not disturb me again, I am very busy.” I started to walk away, but then she interrupted me.

“Wait!” She shouted out. “Do you believe in supernatural powers?” She suddenly asked me.

Due to Nicolas and the story he shared about a guy that can control carbon atoms, my answer is yes. But I can’t just share that information with a stranger.

“What kind of stupid question is that?” I ask, getting her hopes down. She felt the insult. It was like my words hit her.

“T-This might sound like a stupid thing to say, but I believe I have a superpower.” She was nervous, afraid that she sounds like a crazy person.

Because of my recent encounters, I do believe her, but I can’t just trust anyone I meet. “Can you prove it in some way?” I asked her.

“Ah-Uhm… Do you have a gun?” She then asks.

“I no longer have any rights to hold any firearms.” I answered. “No matter what, I can never ever hold a firearm ever again.”

“Oh uhm…” She suddenly started to feel bad. The depression could be heard in my voice. She then picks up a rock. “Throw this at me.”

“That’s a crime.” I said back. “Please trust me for a moment.”

I sighed and grabbed the rock. “Here I come.” I threw the rock in her direction.

I didn’t throw it that hard to hurt her, but it was hard enough to reach her and hit her. But then, at a 30-centimeter distance, the rock bounces of thin air and repulses back with an equivalent force as I’ve thrown it. Were my eyes deceiving me?

“Try again.” She said picking up the rock again. “But throw it hard this time, as if it’s a baseball.”

I grabbed the rock. “Are you sure?” I ask. She nodded.

I took a deep breath. I held up one leg and used my body weight to throw the rock hard. The rock flew and bounced off again at a 30-centimeter distance. It bounces back all the way to behind me.

She then held out her hand. “Grab my hand.”

I raised my hand but couldn’t reach her hand. At a 30-centimeter distance, my hand got stopped by some invisible force. My eyes widened in shock.

“How…?” I softly spoke up.

“It is like some kind of invisible force field.” She answered. “I didn’t understand it in the beginning so I thought that I would get a genius to solve it.” She said blushing a little. “Please don’t report me, but I stalked you for a little to find out how I could find you. If someone could understand this supernatural anomaly, it would be you, right?”

“Asking me is dumb.” I grinned. “I know a guy that would be interested in researching you.” I then said. “He is quite the genius. He can solve any scientific occurrences.”

“I see…” She got a little sad. “So, you can’t do anything?”

“Naturally not.” I started to say. “But sometimes I can get jealous of him and want to catch up to his knowledge.”

“So, you’ll help me?” She got excited again.

“This might sound weird, especially after knowing that I quit being a detective, but wanna join me in solving a case?”

“Yes, I would love to!” She grabbed my hands, happy to be my partner for this case.

“By the way, what’s your name?” I then asked.

“Oh right! Introductions! I am Kyoka Suguru!”

×××××

Me and Kyoka were in a car driving to the forest where Aki expects the stalker’s hideout to be at. It is a forest next to Kyoto. There should be a small wooden house that contains a lot of deadly weapons and torture material.

This feels weird to me. Why would Aki have all of this information? Was he testing me? I gave the file Aki handed over to me to Kyoka to see if she has any clue, but…

“No idea.” She answered. “Your friend seems ridiculous. Could he be a villain?”

“Would a villain really save someone from killing oneself and then help him for find a reason to live for 4 years now?”

“You do have a point.” Kyoka said, closing the file. “What is your story actually? What got you very depressed?” She suddenly asks me.

“I would rather not share this kind of information.” I answered.

“I see… In that case, I won’t pressure you.”

After a little more driving, the two of us finally arrived. I parked the car right at the side of the forest. There wasn’t a proper opening to this place, so we had to force our way in through the bushes.

The floor was muddy, and the trees stood high. I followed the coordinates that were written on the file I got from Aki. As we walked more, I felt something wrap around my feet. I looked down and saw a tree branch wrapping my feet tightly.

“Takida-San, are you alright?” Kyoka asked looking over me.

“Yes, I just got my feet stuck.” I tried to get my foot out, but then I realized something. The branch was getting tighter around me.

In a sudden action, the branch flings me into the air, holding me upside down. The tree was alive and holding me upside down.

“Takida-San!” Kyoka shouted out. She tried to think of a way to get me free.

The tree trunk then ripped in the middle. It opened wide open forming a mouth. It brought me closer to the opening. Was it going to eat me?

Kyoka then grabbed a branch and tried to hit the stick on the branch holding me. The tree stopped for a moment. It then uses another tree branch to hit her. But Kyoka uses her force field to protect herself.

I couldn’t waste any time, so I tried to rip the branch where it was holding me, but it couldn’t work. The tree was regenerating, making it impossible for me to escape. A branch suddenly hit Kyoka from behind.

“Sugu-!” I tried to shout out, but another branch covered my mouth. I looked around myself to see multiple trees coming alive. It all had abnormal features.

Kyoka was bleeding from her head and unconscious. A tree then picked her up to eat her. Is this the end? I can’t escape…

In my old detective days, I managed to discover every single trap, I even taught Nicolas those techniques. How could I fall for something like this? Is it because of the unexpected supernatural occurrence?

I couldn’t see the trap. And now, another innocent person will die…