“We have to do something about this. It is not a matter that we just sit on. While I hardly care about the approval of the sitting party in the Diet, we all agreed stability was needed, now more than ever, and u is brewing.” Morita Yuna-sama, the head of the Ministry Reiji now worked for was saying urgently to the group of police, iigators and specialists… his lips curled into a slightly bitter smile as he gnced across at a couple of his rades… was saying. It does hurt my principles a little to work with known criminals, but unfortuhere’s a distinct she of upright fellows or Police which are part of this new order.

  Morita-sama was in her early thirties, and had a very , tidy and effit air, her hair in an impeccable bun and bck-framed gsses giving her eyes an inquisitive look. She would pass for a teacher or a secretary, except for the fact she was wearing a skirt suit from one of the most expeailors in Tokyo, and Reiji wasn’t the sort to miss details like that, eve didn’t matter. After all, I was the oo crack the case and expose Oshiro-san, although what that nearly cost… He resisted the urge to gnce over at his trainee, Officer Usui, who was listening beside him, outwardly appearing attentive, but he knew her well enough to know she was bored. Or is she a trainee anymore? I still have a ment role, but she’s officially transferred to this Ministry.

  “The ret spate of attacks on the rid iial are drawing the eyes of many. Fortunately, or unfortunately, if you hold that view…” Morita-sama was no lover of the vested is that had long held sway in Japan, but she wasn’t a revolutionary or a radical, so she khey were required for Japan to fun. “…none of the major power tres of Japan have been attacked, but wealthy small businessmen and women, as well as phinthropists, altruists and simir high-profile folk, have beargeted. You all remember the business with Shinohara-san, which was all over the news? She was very popur with the public, her charitable Foundation does many good deeds, and the average man and woman oreet likes to see the wealthy tributing to society.”

  “A question, if I may?” One of the other Officers recruited by the Ministry, this one from a military background, judging by the fact he nearly saluted as he asked his question, spoke up. “Sihese attacks are under our purview, do you suspect a more… mystical… motive?”

  “The motive might simply be to make money.” Morita-sama clicked her tongue. “But the means ahods… they reek of Chosen matters. So yes, we are best pced to intervene, and even if not…” She pushed up the frames of her gsses with one finger, peering down at them all from her podium. “…the Ministry is paid for by hardw taxpayers and is a bottomless pit of money. So we should deliver ensurate results, dies alemen. I don’t want excuses, I want the perpetrators caught. Japan is a try of eace, and that isn’t going to ge, despite everything that’s happening!”

  “If it’s a Chosen, then…” the Detective g the small, wiry, rodentlike man Bunta-san, who was also a Chosen, and sadly also a criminal. Though his crimes were white-colr, and his thefts were from crimierprises. Still, a crime is a crime, and he was also party to the death of Oguro Daizen, though apparently the actual killer was one Shiratori Himeko… no, that’s not strictly true. It was supposedly a Goddess trolling her body. Ugh, there’s simply no pret for dealing with a lot of these crimes, even now. Too much has bee uhe rug for my peaind, but… Looking at Usui, remembering her not even realising she had been shot, a gun poi her by a treasonous Ameri spy… I pay my debts. That’s the essence of w enfort.

  “I know. I trap them, my powers are more useful here oerial.” he promised. “Though it’s better suited for…” He trailed off, and Officer Usui snickered, a habit the Detective was trying to break her of. If she’s going to be a Detective, rise up the ranks, as a woman she’ll o have presend dignity. Although… Putting aside the thought of a number of distinctly undignified women of power he had met retly, he agreed with Usui, having seen Bunta-san demonstrate his talents.

  “While we are allowed to use proportionate for our duties, and yes, against Chosen with lethal skills even fatal force to save the lives of other Officers or civilians is warrahat should always be the st resort.”

  “Are we even sure it’s a Chosen?” another Detective asked, a question Reiji was also p. “It could easily be some spiritual being, I’d say? At least it’s not impossible.”

  “Is that likely though?” Officer Usui spoke up zily. “From what we know, the vast majority of those are ing from around Shirohebizumi shrine, and I don’t think any of Akio-kun’s loing to be robbing and murdering. Although…” she cocked her head, thinking. “…sinone of the nobility have been targeted, we ’t rule it out just yet.”

  At least you’re thinking clearly, but… “You shouldn’t be so familiar with Oshiro-san. flicts of i are what led to corruption in the force…”

  It was then Morita-sama spped the podium, the noise eg, and everyone paused for her to speak, as she pursed her lips, irritated. “I’m gd you are all so eager, but allow me to finish. I’m just as busy as you, likely more so, I assure you. At least you only have to worry about w enfort.” There was a nervous ugh that passed around the room at her quip. “Yes, as far as we are aware…” She clicked a button on her podium, and the s behind her lit up, dispying some charts and infographics. “…when it es to those with abnormal powers, there are the Chosen at the head, each with one or more dangerous powers that defy belief. Weaker here in the reality we call the Material, thankfully…” Her tone rofessional, reinf her appearance as a strict schoolteacher. “…but from information we have gathered, this is slowly starting to even out. The process might take years or even decades or turies, we hardly have enough empirical data, but Ministry stists are fident there’s been a noticeable uptick.”

  “Ask the rat. He’d know.” Officer Usui murmured, almost too quiet for ao hear, as Morita-sama tinued.

  “Below the Chosen, there are the mentioned spiritual beings. Their powers and providence vary, but there seem to be two types. Those called Chosen Heroes, or the Enthrohey freely e and go, but their numbers seem to be highly limited. We certainly ot rule them out as a possible culprit. The sed type is ihose we see from Shirohebizumi shrihose brought forth by the powers of a Chosen. They aintain their presence long, but freely e and go for a while. It is quite the chistering eae, but…” She pressed a button, and the dispy behind her morphed into a database. “…eatrant is logged and given official identification. So it is unlikely one of those are to bme. Besides…”

  “The timeline doesn’t match. Is which we think fit this pattern were happening before they started appearing.” Reiji mused. “However, that misses one important point. What happen once happen again. Who is to say some unknown Chosen ’t do what another .”

  “Precisely.” Morita-sama agreed. “Anyway, the final type… is the majority of us here.” She said, her tone dry. “Ordinary people who have enhanced abilities. Many of us have received Chirurgery as part of our duties and remuion, and while I could never cim to be robust, I would have little trouble subduing a strong man.”

  “It’s mostly you women.” one of the recruits from the Polipined. “I’m still waiting my turn!”

  “It ’t be helped. Shaeu hates toug other men.” Usui grinned. “You’ll have to wait for Akio-kun to be free. He’s a busy man.”

  “As are we, but you are correct, Usui-san.” Morita-sama nodded. “I am told a day will be made free soon for Chirurgery for those of you who have not received it yet, as well as your family members, as promised. But the point stands. While those who have had Chirurgery have also beeered with the Ministry, we know of other methods, such as…” she sneered a little, hardly able to believe what she was talking about. “…ese Cultivators, aern Warrior Priests and Nuns. We are unaware of the specifics, but we assume they do not fall behind us in capability.”

  “So, we make some assumptions, but not truly know anything.” one man said, and Reiji nodded.

  “Yes, that’s why it’s so importaart gatheri practices and refining our polig methods. I don’t like it, but it’s iable that we have to ie spiritual teiques into policework.”

  “I don’t care how you achieve results, dies alemen.” Morita-sama reiterated. “But we do hese attacks to stop! Give us a culprit so we soothe the public. There’s already an undercurrent of u, we had the demonstrations and riots after Kyoto, and a resurgeer London. Sadly… we have word there will be another iional i any day now. The st thing we need is further chaos. All right, you’re dismissed!”

  With that Morita-sama hurried off, likely to meet with another branch of the already sprawling Ministry. Eduaybe… or the Military? Sce… Culture… it makes me gd I’m a simple Detective.

  “So, let’s cut to the chase.” Usui rubbed her hands, looking at him and Bunta-san, as the three of them made up oeam. “We o get some expert help on this one. What’s the point of es, if we ’t make use of them? Right, Bunta-kun?”

  The rat-like man nodded. “Yes, it’s true. It seems terproductive not to take advice from others.”

  Reiji held in a sigh. Every day is a learning day. These pair are as stubborn as my daughters. “While I do agree that since Suzuki Haru-sama and the Diviner-sama are high up in the Ministry, and Oshiro-san is an honorary advisor, using their resources is terproductive in the long term. If we don’t develop the skills we need now, then what do we do iure, if… such resources are no longer avaible?”

  Officer Usui uood, but Bunta-san merely shrugged. “Those monsters… if something happens to them, we don’t stand a ce. You don’t knawa-sama or White-sama like I do, and even they defer to… no, maybe they’ll know I’m talking about them.” As he cmmed up, and Usui started teasing him, Reiji frowned. Even so, today’s friends be tomorrow’s foes. And even if we had detectives along the lines of the great fial ones, Sherloes, Kindaichi Kōsuke, Arsène Lupin… they won’t live forever, and ’t be everywhere at ono, we have to y the foundation for success. I just hope one day soon they uand the need…

  ********

  “It’s been a real pain.” Officer Usui was sighing as she clutched a mug of warm tea. “Even the most ret crime se doesn’t tell us a lot. No fingerprints or DNA… but whoever the perp is, either they’ve got zier, or more careless, or…”

  “That sounds rough.” Watanabe Karen-san, the secretary of Oshiro-san, was saying. She had struck up a friendship with Usui since we visited Shirohebizumi shrine a signifit amount for work purposes. Yes, it is rough. But I’m proud of her. Officer Usui is thinking like a Detective… “Is there anything I do to help? I’m busy, but…”

  “The thought is what ts. And it helps to vent.” Officer Usui shook her head. She gnced around, seeing the shrine being exceptionally busy. Bunta-san had noticed too, and was crouched in one er warily, especially cautious of the little Fae, Shaeu, who despite her small frame was a being of great power. Though personally I am far more wary of her… The beautiful maid behind her, another non-humae having striking eyes that shifted from shimmering silver to brilliant violet depending on the light, filled him with unease. I know that look she gives sometimes. Like someone who wants to make others suffer. But…

  Reiji’s gloomy thoughts were interrupted by several people entering the room. One was a young man, who on seeing Watanabe-san brightened, suddenly holding the heavy and very bulky box he was carrying higher, showing off. “Hey, Karen- babe, what’s up?”

  “Work.” She snorted, rolling her eyes at his familiar tone, but she didn’t seem too displeased to Reiji’s eyes. “Speaking of, is that…”

  “Yes, it is.” The equally young woman who apanied him in pushed at her gsses, smiling a little. “The final parts to the Oracle Engine.”

  “I , Karen- babe!” the man boasted. “Isn’t it cool?”

  “It certainly sounds like something a man would like.” She agreed. “Shaeu, are you ready to test it? I think…” Watanabe-san turo us. “…maybe I am ag out of line, and I apologise, but it’s an instrument to reveal the hidden, and to uidan where to go and what to do. Why not ask it about your case?”

  “That would be… troubling.” Reiji sighed after a while.

  “Hey man, don’t be dismissing Karen- like that. She’s you a good idea, she’s as smart as she is pretty!” the man holding the box pined, only for his panion to scold him.

  “Yasu-kun, enough! I get you want to show off, but… I’m a girl, I know how off-putting ing on to be.” She lowered her voice, but everyone here heard, as everyone had received Chirurgery. Shaeu was ughiily, and even the frightening maid smiled. The girl o us apologetically. “I get it. Who would simply take the word of a magic devi who was guilty or i? It would undermihe rule of w. But… we do o test it. Of course, this is just the small-scale prototype. There’s two more stages pnned.”

  “Yeah, first step is to see if it make simple predis correctly when a known quantity of Fortune is pumped into it.” Yasu-saement alpable. “We’ve been busting our asses trying to write a program that take advantage of a number of sources of true randomness, or as close as we get. Hell, even tossing a or the spin of a roulette wheel isn’t truly random…”

  “They don’t want a lecture. Sain.” The woman, whose name was… Hina-san, Reiji remembered, tinued. “Basically, it specialises in pinpointing locations of i on maps at the moment. But if it works… we pn to build a true superputer. A million cores. Though the cost…”

  “Money is merely a trifle, is it not-not?” Shaeu scoffed, amused. “We shall have more-more than enough.”

  “I think you don’t quite uand just how much it’ll cost on that scale.” Hina-san said gently, not wishing to mock Shaeu, it seemed. “It’s on the order of a national budget, or the funds of a major uy or researstitute. To have that as a private group is frankly insane. But…”

  “Yeah, if it works, it’ll be crazy!” Yasu-san was brimming with enthusiasm, running a hand through his messy hair and striking a pose he thought made him look cool. “Harnessing the power of luck to find lost treasures, hidden pces, all sorts of secrets. Man I love this job, don’t you Hina-? I mean, Hayato-kun did good getting in with that pany before, but…”

  “I know what you mean.” she replied softly. “It’s o be part of something special. Scary too.” She admitted, and Usui ughed.

  “No kidding. Ever sihat very first case my boss dragged me out to, g intuition…” She rolled her eyes, and Reiji had to hold back the urge to scold her. “…things have escated quickly. But I still don’t quite get how this will work. And how it could help with police work.”

  “I shall-shall demonstrate.” Shaeu got up gracefully, her yukata today a pale lic, embzoned with strange, almost fantastical flowers. “It is a shame we ot-not ask Yasaka, but he is… indisposed.” Her smile was teasing. “There are many things we need aoo, and he does-does suffer.” She went over to one desk and took out a handful of dice. She passed them around and Reiji watched with slight i as everyoed them to check they were fair. When satisfied, Shaeu took several dozen of them, and a sudden gust of wind filled the room with a greenish glow. She also touched a golden ring covered in ornate, barbed knotwork on her finger. “My Fortune is much-much greater than I used to know. In fact, I believe one could say I am Fortuself, now.” Her impish smile was mirrored by that of the dangerous maid, who looked on silently. “So…” Throwing thirty dice, we watched as they rolled and came to a stop.

  “That’s… rather improbable.” Out of the thirty dice, twenty three showed sixes, while six more had fives and fours, with only one dice showing a low number of two. “I ’t even calcute those odds.”

  “Indeed. But you hardly determihe truth of things with mere rolls of these-these dice. At least not easily. I fess to not-not uanding the hard work you are putting in. But I do approve.” She said to Hina-san and Yasu-san, who both looked pleased, though Yasu-san had a sloppy grin on his face, whily faded when he realised that Watanabe-san was watg.

  “Yes, that’s the hard part. The allog algorithms and programs.” Hina-san agreed. “Anyway, since you are here, why not watch the first demonstration. It will probably g, we are in unknowory, but Hayato is fident even in failure we’ll get good results.”

  “Hey, uh…” Bunta-san interrupted, looking nervous. “…you mentiohree stages.”

  “So we did.” Yasu-san agreed. “Step three is for iing Faerie teology. Smaller, more powerful batteries that help with heat, ical gizmos and doodads. I doly uand it, but Hayato-kun is on the case. With that… well, who knows? It might even surpass theoretical quantum puters. Not that it’s my field. Anyway… shall we go?”

  I want to say I don’t have time for this, but… I did want to speak to Shaeu regarding the possibility of spiritual beings from here being involved. Even though I think it unlikely, near impossible, I’d be a fool to overlook the ce… With a sigh, he ceded, and Reiji followed them to the other room, but couldn’t help but be intrigued…

  ********

  “Yes, this is most exg.” Ixitt was saying to Hayato-san, who seemed to be the leader of the group of Oshiro-san’s friends who were w on the project. “I do wohe mind, no, the spirit is a truly plicated matter. Perhaps this will lead to breakthroughs in simuting even such impossibly plicated funs. I have the sudden urge to ask for some advice…”

  Most of the people at the shrine had taken a break, and now there were a number of additional visitors, eagerly awaiting the first trials. The puter itself was the size of a fridge, blocky and square, cooled with liquid nitrogen and a number of fans. As it booted up the hissing of densation and the whirring of the fans was an audible hum, and the rge monitor it was ected to turned on, dispying the BIOS settings. Not that I uand it myself. I use my smartphone and a ptop, and that does well enough for me. Policework is half intuition, and half dedu. No, perhaps a third intuition, a third dedu, and a mixture of lud perception for the other third? But teology has helped us in the past. CCTV, Fingerprinting, DNA analysis…

  “Isn’t this exg, Hisano-?” Yasu-san was saying to a younger girl perhaps the age of Reiji’s eldest daughter, earing fashionable gsses, her brown hair in braids and a shrine maiden hakama. “You get to watch your cousin show off his skills!”

  “You might want to be less boastful, Yasu-kun.” The girl replied primly, clearly exasperated. “You’ll never impress a woman you like with that attitude. Besides, it’s not just your work.”

  “You wound me! You’ve bee so cold to your beloved cousin since you started ing here! What will uncle and auhink?”

  “They’re happy I’m more outgoing and doing what I want to.” She shot back, and as Watanabe-san ughed quietly, Yasu-san flushed.

  “All right. Enough of that.” Hayato-san apologised smartly. “Sorry about Yasu-kun, he’s just excited. We all are. Anyway, for the expnation…”

  We have a few important figures here this evening. Not ting Shaeu, there is Tsumura-san, granddaughter of the Minister of Defence, and from a very old family. The girl, training hakama and still smelling faintly of sweat, was watg, apanied by a simirly cd girl who was also from the nobility of Japan, and their expressions were ied. Hina-san offered them a drink politely as the system was booting, and another woman, short but rather pretty, was typing in some parameters.

  “Here you are, Motoko-sama, Natsumi-sama.” Hina-san said, and Tsumura-san frowned, displeased.

  “There is no need for suality. I find I rather dislike it nowadays. You are precious friends of Akio’s, so please address us as such.”

  Hina-san shook her had. “Not today. This is work. Yasu-kun might be a little too exuberant, but the rest of us… we’re here to do a job, and in that regard, you’re our employers since Akio-kun isn’t here. If it was a night out, or more casual an occasion… I’d be delighted to call you informally. But…”

  “I see. I hardly argue against that.” Tsumura-sama sighed, and she was forted by her friend Hori-san.

  “In that-that case, we should celebrate.” Shaeu decred, eagerly watg the s with her amber eyes. “Akio has triumphed, though he will not-not retur. Eri is most fortunate, yet it has been a long-long time ing. They both be rather foolish, but… they have known each other too-too deeply and too long. May they untaheir misceptions so we move-move forwards. Yoriko, you must simply e too. I will invite Ichika, she will be pleased to see-see you again.”

  “Oh, the pirl who got into the art scam. Yeah, if I ever get off duty, I’d love to unwind.” Usui sighed. “Just us girls, right?”

  “Yes, it seems so.” Shaeu agreed. “But for that, I see we must-must aid your endeavours. Besides…I was most-most offehat my kin and allies would be suspected of murder most foul. In battle, yes. We fight to kill, but we are not-not Unseelie or the Wild Hunt.” As Shaeu pouted, Reiji winced. Yes, she was greatly offended. But assuming I take her at her word, every single being is brought over by the ese immigrant, if she be called that, Nie Ling. And only for certain purposes, such as work and other tasks. So we have alibis for all of them, assuming Shaeu be trusted, and if she ’t… there’s nothing I do about any of this. No. That way is a dead end. But…

  “I think we should ge the subject.” Hayato-san said, steering the topic back to safety. “Okay, I get that you don’t want to leak cssified iigative details, but… we need some basic parameters. What area are you looking at? A district of Tokyo? The whole thing? Japan as a whole? The world? Sadly we aren’t just using a map and pig spots, it’s far more plicated than that, so with our current level of processing power, Tokyo is about as much as we manage.”

  “Getting the satellite data from the maps to scale wasn’t trivial.” Yasu-san boasted, and his friend, another man, this one more smartly dressed, agreed.

  “Yeah, the re-gridding algorithm was murder, splitting it up into ever-decreasing ks. But then, Akio-kun’s paying us, and he’s our friend, so we don’t want to let him down. Besides, Shiro will kill us if we waste all his money. But verting the map data to a proprietary format that links with the potential randomness, and allows for other non-map data sets… it’s a real headache.”

  At the mention of Shiro, Bunta-san shivered. He was increasingly on edge here, perhaps having people he had no wish to meet again.

  “Bunta-san, Officer, what do you think?” Reiji asked.

  “I think…the crimes are scattered all over Tokyo. So we he wider search area.” Bunta-san said, while Usui scratched her , thinking.

  “Hey, so… this works by probabilities, just like the dice, right? But… how does your Fortune affect a mae?”

  “It still works.” Shaeu grinned. “I do still-still enjoy pying those gambling games.”

  “No fessing to criminal activity in front of me.” Reiji pinched his nose, annoyed. “However, a little illegal gambling is out of my jurisdi.”

  “Yeah, we think it’s because it’s her who wishes the outes. We’ve done some experiments with some others with a Fortuat, and while it’s not as pronouhe results indicate it o be personally reted. If the person wants someone else to win in a game of ce they aren’t pying, for example, the effects seem rgely reduced, though not statistically ent.” Hayato-san expined. “So the user of the Oracle Engine needs signifit Fortune currently. Akio-kun could do it, but apparently Shaeu’s is even stronger with her ring.”

  “Yes, I very rarely lose-lose.” Shaeu paused, suddenly pouting. “Though most-most of the online ats I use have now been suspended. Perhaps being too fortunate is not-not always a good thing.”

  “I’m curious.” Officer Usui piped up. She had lost i whealked about plicated software matters, but ba the subject of ce her i iqued. “Does your luck affect each didividually, or as a whole set? If so, the oute would be very different?”

  That’s a good question, and one a Detective would ask. Reiji nodded, equally curious.

  “It depends. When pying cards, the hand I get dealt is not-not taken as a whole, eadividual card is better than one would expect.” Shaeu said, and Hori-sa out a pleased giggle.

  “Yes, you don’t want to py games of ce with Shaeu or Akio. Losing is nearly iable.”

  “Of course, harder feats of Fortune are not-not always in my favour. I would not-not have you expect I produce results, especially with this mae, but perhaps it will be indicative.”

  “Most of the processing poes towards an AI system.” Yasu-san said proudly. “Though holy, it’s not Artificial Intelligen the way we talk about normally, it’s all predictive modelling and statistical analysis of established datasets. But… this is the core.” He gri Watanabe-san, who was looking on fondly. “When we scale up to a superputer, it’ll blow everyone’s minds!”

  “Akio-kun put a lot of faith in us.” Hayato-san agreed. “We asked to help, and help we will. Besides, this is the first of its kind. We couldn’t have do without the help of Ixitt, though.”

  The Fae nodded. “Yes. Well, it does rather align with my own experimental goals. I am still very much a novice at branches of Mortal Engineering such as puting and AI, but… I have someone I ask as well. She would be most ied ie of this experiment.”

  “All right. Currently, the loaded data sets won’t uand what you want, but Shaeu o input it anyway, and we’ll rely on her Fortune.” Hayato-san said, and asked what they wao know.

  “This is all very irregur. I admit to being curious, but I was simply here to try and elimihe possibility of spiritual beings from this camp being involved.” Reiji frowned. “Besides, it isn’t like we a this data. We would never get a warrant for a search or simir. We have no probable cause or o enter private property. And while the case is murder… a retroactive warrant will be tricky.”

  “Is that true?” Usui asked. “You’re fetting that magid spiritual power is currently legally enshrined in our ws, thanks to the Ministry. I think we could swing probable cause at least. We might be embarrassed if things g, but…”

  “I don’t like relying on such methods. It will degrade our iigative skills, and Shaeu won’t always be around to operate the device.”

  “Yes, having things be operated by anyone is the key.” Hayato-san agreed. Shaeu was waiting eagerly, ready to type. “Which is why with greater processing power and AI, the level of Fortune required to get tangible results should decrease. More Fortune is always better, but… eventually it will be a device that be used to produce Oracles by all. Or so we hope. It’s a lot of cash for it to fail.”

  “In that case…” Reiji ceded defeat. It certainly couldn’t hurt to try. “We are looking for where we find evideo the culprits of the ret cases…” He gave them the details, and Shaeu typed away, the map dispyed on the monitor unging.

  “All right then. Shaeu, you trate on wanting to know the answers, then start it?” Hina-san said, and Shaeu nodded. Moments ter, dots in multiple colours appeared. Six colours.

  “The first randomised figure is hoces to look for. Seems it picked six. Currently the AI only haween one and forty. But eventually we are hoping it run searches into the millions.” Hayato-san expined, and as dots appeared rapidly, they were scattered all over Tokyo, but… No, there’s a pattern…

  Six different blobs of colour were slowly f. Specs of other colours were mixed in, and it was more a diffuse cloud, but in six spots, the density of single colour dots was signifitly abnormal. “Huh, that’s Chiyoda ward. That ’t be right…” Reiji mused. “Then there’s Minato ward… huh. Isn’t that the area that Shinohara-san lives and was attacked? That’s one hell of a ce…”

  As Shaeu smirked proudly, her finger on the keyboard of the so-called Oracle Engine, Reiji’s eyes widened, and he looked to see if Bunta-san and Officer Usui had noticed what he had as well.

  “There’s only two pces that correspond to the victims, and… they were the pair of attacks that seemed far clumsier and more haphazard.” Usui muttered. Bunta-san followed up, agreeing.

  “I don’t want to believe in ce, but… three of the other spots, including Chiyoda ward all have ohing in on.”

  What does he mean? Wait… I see it. It’s obvious now I know what to look for. Is there something to this after all? Fortuhey were in the right pce to enquire further about the matter, and Reiji’s intuition was tingling, just as it had when he picked up a minor case involving some thugs harassing a woman. All right then. This may all be mystionsense, but with what I’ve seen, and our current ck of leads… might as well at least check it out…

  ShipTeaser