Detective Stuff

“What are you doing? I mean, besides keeping me from sitting at my desk?” Hinata asked. The Tokyo police department thrummed with life around them, officers discussing cases and evidence as someone shouted from a separate floor. Harry had been occupying Hinata’s desk for hours, barely eating the bento box she had brought him.

“Detective stuff. Something Smiler said has been kicking around in my skull since I fought him,” Harry said, sipping some of his coffee. He then immediately cringed, looking to Hinata as she hovered over him.

“Your coffee has been sitting there for hours, Harry,” Hinata said casually, taking his cup and moving it far away from him.

“Thank you. Shit, when I actually think I get lost in my own damn brain. Okay, let me start over. We’ve been trying to find Gouki Kageyama,” Harry said, swigging water to get the stale coffee out of his mouth.

Hinata gave him a cheeky little side eye. He returned it, curious as to what she found so amusing. “Yes, I am aware of a Gouki Something,” Hinata said.

“You’re sooooo funny,” Harry said, completely deadpan. He stretched his arms behind him, realizing how long he had been sitting. “Smiler mentioned Gouki had to work on his mullet. Most would think he made a lame hair joke.”

“He didn’t?” Hinata asked, leaning in to see what was on the computer screen. Multiple tabs were open, many of them detailing the lakes of Japan.

“I’m a stocky white guy who grew up mere hours from the best wilderness in America. I know fish. Gouki’s fishing,” Harry said confidently.

Harry went back to scrolling through his tabs, intent on finding something. Hinata put her hands on the back of his chair and spun him around. She leaned forward slowly and put her face directly in front of his.

“Gouki is what now?”

“Fishing. His granddad once mentioned he used to take Gouki fishing,” Harry said calmly. He then reached over across Hinata’s arm and grabbed the bento she had prepared for him. Poking around it, he waited patiently for Hinata to give him a chance to explain how he reached his conclusion. For a brief moment she considered walking away, letting Harry spend his time doing whatever he wanted so long as he wasn’t getting in the way of actual police work. She couldn’t help but trust the moron, though.

Harry turned back to the computer as Hinata leaned in. He began to scroll through the various images of lakes and rivers, each page having a word highlighted. Bora. Or, in English, mullet.

“Gouki enjoys fishing. Smiler misunderstood the comment. If he is in hiding, it is somewhere he can relax. Like a lake,” Harry said, some of his bento going into his mouth, rice falling onto the desk. He poked his finger at the screen, tracing it around Kasumigaura Bay, the long shore of it holding a keen interest to him.

“But the words for the fish and hair style in Japanese are…” Hinata started to say before Harry pressed a finger to her mouth.

“Different in Japanese. Yeah. Smiler was TOLD Gouki said it. An English speaker who had seen Gouki recently,” Harry said. He pulled up another page, this time a police profile page of an American. Billy Williamson, a high rolling Vegas asshole who was suspected of dozens of crimes yet never left the paper trail to get a proper police investigation done on him. He was also a known associate of Gouki Kageyama, hosting the Kageyama family multiple times before D Day when the family still tried to maintain a façade of respectability.

“Meet Billy. Billy WOULD make a English hair joke. And guess where he’s been seen,” Harry said.

“Japan?” Hinata asked, beginning to feel a bit excited by Harry’s line of thinking.

“More specifically, here, around Kasumigaura Bay,” Harry said, clicking back to the map of the bay. “I think Gouki is isolated now. Nobody knows where he is currently. But throw paint in the air…”

Hinata could see the pattern Harry was forming now. An off handed joke from a psychopath which made no sense. A yakuza crime boss who loved fishing. An American gambler connecting those two threads. Gouki can’t be found, Harry had concluded. But throw paint in the air, and you can see the shape of the wind his presence creates.

“Still, Kasumigaura Bay is a large body of water. How will you find him?” Hinata asked.

“With Godzilla, naturally,” Harry said, his grin growing ever wider.

“Can’t wait to see this one,” Hinata said, hands on her hips, her skepticism still present but rapidly melting away. Harry was honestly impressing her with how thoroughly he had thought through all of this nonsense.

“I noticed something when looking at all of Gouki’s known aliases,” Harry said, pulling up Gouki’s police profile. Hinata scrolled through the list of names Gouki had used in the past to mask his illegal activities. Honda. Oda. Fukuda. “Godzilla directors. You live with Reo long enough, you absorb some rubber monster suit knowledge. Look who owns this mansion.”

Harry pulled up the history of a mansion located on Kasumigaura Bay. It had been sold only a few years prior, having been owned by the same person for decades. “A mister Hashimoto had this put in his name eight years ago. Right after Reiji Kageyama died. Hashimoto directed Return of Godzilla. I’m not saying for sure…”

Harry and Hinata looked intently at each other, both smiling wickedly, both feeling the same thing. The pieces didn’t completely fit, but they were all close enough to require a much closer look.

“Want to go fishing with me?” Hinata asked.

“I would love to,” Harry said, getting up from the desk and giving her a gentlemanly little bow. They began to walk through the halls of the Tokyo police department, a clean and orderly building full of professional people. People who kept giving side eyes to the American wearing the 80s band T-shirt and the woman with two fluffy fox tails. Her ears flattened a bit at some of the stares.

“Hey, don’t let the stares of dumbasses bother you,” Harry said, pushing the elevator button.

“Including your stares?” Hinata asked.

“Harsh. But fair. I ain’t changing my thoughts on demons overnight because of you, girlie,” Harry said, crossing his arms as he watched the elevator count down to the basement levels.

“You get stabbed to death by a couple of demons one time, and you hold a grudge…” Hinata sighed.

“Funny. Absolutely adorable, girly,” Harry said as he stepped out of the elevator, leading her down the hall of the much newer basement levels of the building. These had been built after the D Day reconstruction for one specific purpose. Housing demon hosts and the demons they had contracted.

“Why talk to Smiler?” Hinata asked.

“Curiosity. Smiler was proud of his independence. I want to know what changed his mind,” Harry said. He pushed the door at the end of the hall open, seeing Reo already sat at the interrogation table. Across from him, chained and grinning, was Smiler. His hands were clasped, neatly folded, as if waiting for Harry.

“What kept you?” Reo asked as Harry sat down.

“Your sister is annoying,” Harry said.

“Yes she is,” Smiler agreed.

“Funny. Why do you want to talk to me, Smiler?” Harry asked, already annoyed by him.

“Because I thought only Gouki could give me purpose,” Smiler said, leaning as far forward as the chains would allow. “But no! You, Harry Vickers…you might be able to change the world!”

Smiler started laughing, mad cackling which seemed to consume them in the small room. The air felt colder underground, though it might have been Smiler’s words which caused the chill. Harry couldn’t figure out if they were meant as a compliment…or a curse.