The clean shaven corpses (1)

"Stand back, I'm with the police," the woman stated as she took of her cape and whipped out a badge.

Now that her cape was gone, it was clear to see that the woman was wearing a t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and a white lab coat.

"Huh? Kaemi!? Is that you!?" Reiju stared in disbelief.

"Hmm? Kintaro's assistant? Well talk about awkward. I guess you caught me in the middle of a metamorphosis," Kaemi bashfully laughed.

"So are they dead?"

"I'm not getting a pulse so sadly yes."

"Check the other one too. They look just like that one did."

"Hold on, nobody touch anything else or leave until backup arrives," Kaemi ordered as she whipped out her phone.

"So what'd you see?" Reiju whispered to Shiruka.

"This one was weird. Earlier, I saw a brunette haired woman get chlorophormed in present time, however, I couldn't find anything in or around the building. Then a little bit later, I peeked into the salon and saw the crime in real time. The culprit chlorophormed a silhouetted victim and dragged them to the back. Before I could pursue, they reemerged immediately after and placed the silhouetted victim in one of the chairs. They then caped them and shoved them into the sink to presumably drown them. Once the deed was done, they smeared the cream on the victim's face, and wrapped them up with a towel before placing cucumbers on them and retreating to the back. They then emerged once again and did the same to the other victim. As they retreated to the back, I saw them clean something up with a broom and dustpan before dumping it in a wastebin and taking it out back. They then burned it the alley. I then returned to the lobby to make sure you were safe, but then that stylist returned."

"So the other one must be the brunette then."

"I guess, weirdly enough, both victims were silhouetted when they were dragged out."

"Well that's not very helpful. So did anything else notable happen?"

"Nope, though I didn't notice anyone else move, you, the officer, Fumiyo, or the stylist. Though I honestly didn't realize that was the stylist when I peeked in. I thought it was a customer."

"Did you catch who was here last?"

"No, perv bitch wouldn't stop swatting her hand through me."

"So!? You're a ghost!"

"It still makes me cringe."

"Ugh."

                                                                          ...

The forensics team struggled not to burst out laughing as Kaemi glared at him.

"What, this is what women do to look beautiful," Kaemi snarled.

"But you!? When did you start caring so much about your appearance tomboy?" one member laughed.

"Ugh, the girls were pushy today and I gave in. Ugh, I'm probably going to look weird after this too, but work comes first Kaemi sighed, as her forensics team got to work.

"Are you able to see?" Reiju asked.

"Oh yeah, I put in contacts before I left the station after one of the girls took my glasses. Ugh, I've been in humiliation for nearly half an hour thanks to them. Well I guess it led to a case so I can't be mad at them. I'm more surprised you showed up too."

"I was just dragged here by some idiot on the street," Reiju glared as she pointed at Fumiyo.

Fumiyo moaned in annoyance.

"Miyanashi-san! Please take a look at this!" a forensics team member called out.

Kaemi and Reiju turned to see.

"Huh? Isn't that the salon outfit? Wait! That was a girl!?" Reiju stared in shock.

"It appears that the facial cream suffocated her, should we remove it?"

"Yes, that way we can see her face more clearly," Kaemi ordered.

The first victim was indeed a woman wearing the salon's uniform. She was completely bald and also lacked eyebrows and eyelashes.

"Well, I guess this makes thing easy, so who is this?" Kaemi asked the other stylists.

"Um, I don't know," Hina sighed.

"We don't have any bald employees, least not that I know of," the black haired stylist, Mira grumbled.

"Maybe they were secretly-"

"Nah, everyone here has real hair," Miko interjected as she got out of the chair and sighed.

"Hey, can you check on that customer right next to the victim?" Reiju asked.

"Yeah, you were mentioning something earlier about how the first victim looked just like them before. Is that true?" Kaemi asked.

"Yes, the victim was styled almost identically to the customer next to her," Aisha, the red haired stylist affirmed.

"Don't tell me... Take some photos then remove the towel, cape, and facial mask from the customer. If I'm wrong I'll happily apologize later," Kaemi ordered.

The forensics team did as she asked. When they removed the towel, cape and mask, they saw another dead hairless woman wearing the salon uniform.

"Shit, a double murder, and I was right here the whole damn time. Shit!" Kaemi vented in frustration.

"I bet it was Mocha who did it," Miko growled.

"Oh right, guess we should take testimonies, um I guess I'm technically a witness and suspect so you do it Moribe."

"I bet you just don't want to write things down, well whatever," the forensics officer named Moribe grumbled.

"Mocha and I were the only two in here. Since there were just three customers receiving facials, I decided to take a break in the salon and had Mocha give me a facial. Since it was just a facial, I could easily get back to work no problem while I waited for it to rejuvenate my face. Mocha's infamous for overworking so I told her to take a break. No one new came in so I just sat back and relaxed because I was really tired and decided I'd be more adamant on Mocha taking a break once my facial was done.  I then heard the door open, but Mocha called out and said she was just returning to give two customers a quick touch up. I never removed my cucumbers until Hina came back. I was sitting here the whole time, but I guess Mocha was secretly murdering some co-workers while I couldn't see anything," Miko stated.

"Yeah, I remember someone apologizing and saying they came back to give a quick touch up to some customers, but I just assumed it was normal business," Reiju stated.

"Now that you mention it, I do remember someone saying something like that while I was sitting here. Guess your story checks out," Kaemi stated.

"I went on break with Kagura, and Shirahoshi, but we went our separate ways. Then I ran into Mira as I was heading back," Aisha stated.

"Me and Kana were the last two in here aside from Miko and Mocha when we went out to grab a snack. Kana wanted something more exquisite and ran off. When I came back with Aisha, there were two new customers from when I was last here, I guess they were corpses," Mira stated.

"I returned before those two. I guess Mocha was still here. I didn't recognize Miko at first, but did as soon as she started talking. I then finished up with the silver haired customer. All the customers had manicures so if any of them did it, you'd know instantly. Considering the silver-haired customer's nails were fine, I doubt she did it," Hina stated.

"Ugh, I should have remembered that, guess these damn curlers are messing with my brain," Kaemi grumbled.

"We can take them out and remove the facial mask," Miko offered.

"No, I'll bear this humiliating look till the investigations over. It's easier this way," Kaemi sighed.

"We found an ID on one of them, it says her name is Takemi," a forensics team member stated.

"Ugh, why?" Miko groaned  as she began wiping the facial cream off her face.

"There's no ID on the other one though."

"The bigger question is why were they killed. How many employees are there?" Kaemi asked.

"I'm the head stylist. In addition to me, the victim, and the other three present. There are 5 additional employees, all female. Mocha, Kana, Sada, Kagura, and Shirahosi," Miko stated.

"Any idea who the other one could be?"

"No clue. I can't even recognize their faces even though I should be able to. I'm even having a hard time believing one of em's Takemi. She just looks so different without any hair, though I guess I can kinda see it. She never wore make up," Mira sighed.

"Well, it looks like Mocha is our number 1 suspect. No way she didn't notice any of this stuff going on. Got data on her?"

"Here, just use the employee book," Hina offered.

"Hey! Only I can touch that!" Miko glared as she redid her makeup.

"It's for the investigation! Plus it has everyone's photo. Maybe it could help identify the other one."

Everyone gazed at the photos of the employees.

"You guys see a match?" Kaemi asked.

"Sadly no, we'll probably have to do things the hard way back at the lab," an officer sighed.

"Wish these photos were a bit clearer, it's hard to make out everyone's eye color.

"Anything?" Reiju whispered to Shiruka.

"No, though somethings bothering me."

Before Shiruka could elaborate, Mocha suddenly returned.

"Huh!? Why are there cops here!? Wait who are those two over there!?" Mocha asked.

The officers immediately restrained Mocha.

"HEY! What gives!?"

"You're under arrest for suspected murder," Kaemi glared.