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Chapter Text

I don't own the rights to my hero academia or its characters.

The Barren

Chapter 1: Mending

The halls were barren, bits of rot linger within the crevices of the inner walls. Allowing moss to grow over furniture and broken medical equipment. Sounds bounce throughout the worn out halls of this asylum. Echoes of wet drops hitting the floor, mixed with the patter of…..footsteps?  ”No, I must've misheard.” he thinks. His ear pressed on an old blue matted rusted door. He tried to pick up the same sound but there was only silence, 

“Hmm, Nothing.” letting out an exhale. Slowly and quietly lifting his pressed face off the gate, he observed the room he stumbled in. Five old hospital beds in poor condition, some broken medical equipment there, and…...some more junk. 

‘How long have I been here?” he thought with a grimace. The game runners weren't so generous with letting its contestants keep track of time. Hell, they wont give them the luxury of light in this madhouse. 

One minute felt like an hour had gone by. The young boy huddled in the near corner of the room,  he tried to rest but his heart was heavy, racked with guilt at what he did. He tried to justify it, saying it for his survival and that there was no other way, but his own excuses ran hollow. “Being a coward must be in my nature.”  he whispered out in self-contempt, at this point he couldn't care who heard. Suddenly guttural scream came from the other side of the door 

“ No no no! Get away from me!! A panicked voice cried out.  Suddenly heavy fast footsteps followed. 

THUMP THUMP THUMP! 

The ground shook, with every step, sounding like a rampaging elephant. It let out a visceral screech, akin to sounding like chalk scraping the broad. The sound assaulted his ears, even though the metal gate. A large tendril penetrated through the walls. Even though it was dark, he could feel a sharp object pierced through one of the spheres on his scalp. In reaction to that, he dove quickly under the nearest hospital bed. The tendril dragged itself across the wall, as a bit of concrete fell and shattered on the floor. He quickly covered his mouth with his arm, trying not to breathe in the dust. “Any sound I make could be the end of me..” he constantly repeated the phrase in his mind, fear gripped his soul almost paralyzing him. 

BZZZZZT

“It must have cut the door. It knows I'm in here — oh god, oh god .” Panicked thoughts ran through his head like a riled up hive, he knew he was finished. 

Then it was  silent, the only thing he could see was the small amount of illumination that peered through the cut of the door. Crawling from under the bed frame, he stood up and walked towards it, each step with a slow and steady pace. Bringing his eyes towards the slit, he could see  what seemed to be an arm laying on the door of the opposing room. Even with the lack of light, The shadow of liquid droplets splatting the wall gave him much more reason to suspect this. Removing himself from the door’s cut, his back dragged near the broken gate. “Another life taken, more suffering, it never ends.” he breathed himself for being weak, another victim claimed by this pit of hell they were in. Suddenly  A red light caught his eye and from the corner of the room, as he got closer, a slight buzzing sound caught his ears. 

A camera, they were watching him. 

With clenched teeth he pushed down his urge to smash it with a stone, he could not give away his position. Mineta knew that reacting was just giving them more content to feed on, to enjoy. The fire in his heart only grew, a burning desire to disappoint “the fans” and beat this round.

 Too many lives died in what was many called “The Barren”. A survival gauntlet consisting of randomized rounds, the spectators get to bid on the setting, location, or what abominations were thrown at them. The contestants are nothing but race horses trying to get to the finish line to live. The only thing that kept him alive was his intellect, one of the many things  He made sure to hide from the game runners. As he contemplated his next move, he suddenly felt an arm clasp his shoulder. His heart dropped, too fearful to even turn and face his potential death in the face. Feeling through the floor in frantic desperation, his hands grazed a broken jagged metal piece.

“Yo grape-head calm down, it's me.” the voice whispered behind him. The grip on the metal piece loosened, and a brief calm slowly gracing his face . It was then again followed by almost explosive  annoyance.

 “What do you think you are doing sneaking up on me like that Malvo!? Almost pissed myself half to death!” Mineta exclaimed 

“Really? Maybe I should keep my distance then.” Malvo retorted. His smirk is almost audible within the darkness.

He and Malvo met six months into his time on the pit. Even though Malvo was his elder, he was clueless and was. Used as easy bait by the other contestants. On many occasions he would've died if he didn't catch on to their set up in time, It was more of Malvo’s selflessness that got them into trouble. Saving people from pit falls, allowing himself to be a distraction, and worse of all tanking the attacks that would kill most people. 

Malvo would've died if he didn't save him from the charge of a mutated fire rhino. Those unfortunate to be pierced by its horn would feel their organs burn up and turn to ash, and the idiot shoved a mother and son aside from its charge, just so he could take the blow instead of them. In Mineta eyes, to be selfless in this place was to be suicidal, to be nothing but a sacrifice for a lamb that was already on the chomping block. 

However, deep down he wished he had the same courage.

Suddenly, the room was flooded with light, both Malvo and Mineta covered their eyes in pain at the rapid exposure to it. Sirens would echo through the halls, its wail a sign that the round was over. Mineta after his vision came to, and saw the floor was stained with blood that was not his own. His head whipping behind in worry to see Malvo in an injured state, his smile didn't hide the pain on his tan bearded face. Panic gripped his worn features as he inspected the injury in the form of a deep gash on the top of his torso.

 “I didn't duck fast enough, whatever that was, it nicked me quite good..” Malvo used the nearby wall as stability with Mineta assisting him. Multiple footsteps were heard throughout the halls. “Probably the rest of the survivors.”  Mineta thought. He yelled for help as he pried the bottom half of the door open.

 When he stepped out, he ran into a tall burly man. The man looked down at him with a menacing grin. His long rusted colored hair draped behind a dark violet trench coat, behind him were many of his enforcers, scouting room to room for survivors. “Well short stuff, I'm surprised you lasted this long.” He said with a snicker. 

“Please i need your help, he’s injured and- Mineta was interrupted by a boot to his gut, he wheezed in pain. His lungs were on fire as he tried to breathe in air.

“You might have lived through this round, but don't think for a second that you have a right to request something of me.” The huge man snarled, the men behind him witnessing this display gave small laughs in amusement. “ Regardless, we will handle the matter, it is our responsibility to make sure our contestants are fit for the next game!” he said with an air of joy on his face. 

Snapping his fingers towards his men as he walked away without a glance back. As men in white long coats came in with stretchers. The logo on the man's back was one he’d seen on every guard in here, a white eight sided crest with a prism in the center. A cobra coiled around the prism almost suffocating it, its scales were painted with a gold sheen.   

Roughly hosted upwards, he was then cuffed at the hands and feet and linked to chains that connected with the other survivors. Many who had looked past him with a dull lifeless gaze, some who had their eyes wide and teeth clenched almost as if they never left flight or fight mode. The only thing that connected him to these survivors were the chains dragging across the floor. He saw some medical personnel carry Malvo off, he could only pray that he came through all right. His eyes shifted toward the medical staff standing near the far right corner of the hall. He overheard some talk about the current round as his shackled row marched past.

“Yes, it seems the survival estimate ranges to twenty five to twenty.” 

“Not to mention the few that have holes in their stomachs, it might rage even less.”

“Hmm, have the IV and blood transfusion bags ready immediately. 

Mineta’s eyes grew wide in shock, there were about forty at the start of the survival round. Bodies littered the halls they traversed, the steel chains shifted through the puddles of crimson. There was so much blood he could almost taste the iron.

Another step.

Another round. 

Another race to be won.

 Except he never wanted to win, he needed to find a way out.

By any means.

I hope you enjoyed! this is my first work on AO3 and i hope to improve on upcoming chapters as this story goes along. 

Next chapter : Round up.

Chapter Text

I don't own the rights to my hero academia or its characters

The Barren

Chapter 2: Round up

"All right, maggots! Come on, one at a time." yelled a short stubby man, clad in a wide deep velvet robe. Blaga, was the warden of Mineta's prison section, stood before them. A cobra logo was tattooed to the right side of his face, it was a mark he flaunted proudly as he paraded in front of this shackled line of "victors", from the survival round. Six guards flanked opposite sides of the row, with the same colored attire, some with vests. Two guards carried guns, the other four remained unarmed but all the more had an air of confidence in their stride.

Mineta felt strained carrying his shackles, feeling the push and pull of his chains while descending the metal stairway. The lamp lights carried a warm bright yellow hue while traversing down its steps. The descent was long, they still weren't fed or given anything to drink, so he had to compromise. The button pulled from his grey jumpsuit kept Mineta's mouth from going dry, one of many tips he took from Malvo.

The stairway felt as if it was constantly shifting with every step he made, the small shocks he sensed through the soles of his feet. "Was it reacting to him?" he pondered. A sudden thud tore him from his thoughts. The line was brought to a halt, "Aye! What's the hold-up!?" Blaga roared, eyes hinting at a rage caged behind a demeanor of professionalism. "Another one went unconscious, boss. I got it.." the voice came from the back of the line, a tone laced with tired sarcasm. The guardsmen had sharp black quills protruding through every pore of his skin. Spikes penetrated through the fabric of his pants.

Kneeling over, he removed one of the quills on his wrist and pierced the prisoner's neck. A gasp air came from the man as he jolted awake, The guard carefully elevated the man to a sitting position, his left arm, laid on the man's shoulder. "Don't move," he warned, his gloved hand grabbing the quill that was still lying on the man's neck and yanking it out without warning.

"My quirk allows the quills from my body to be laced with adrenaline, too much of it could make your heart stop, so try to stay up okay?" The quilled guardsmen said in a sickly sweet tone. The inmate nodded rapidly as he hastily stood up.

"Don't test my patience, or I'll have him pump ya full of it. Now let's carry on." Mineta could see the corners of Blaga's mouth raised in a snarky grin. He already knew that he meant every word, even if they were the survivors, that bastard wouldn't blink twice if a few of them fell dead. The only reason he was in a good mood was that the majority of his prisoners survived the round.

The holding complex was divided into five sections of prisoners, and for each round, they had to forfeit some of the inmates to participate. This meant the wardens would have to risk delays to their factory operations that dealt with weapon shipment and drug manufacturing.

At last, they reached the security checkpoint that led into the prison complex. Arcs of electricity burst out through mutipile copper discs placed in a wide chrome-colored ring. Mineta skin had a small hue of bluish-yellow, and the sound of static was loud enough to drown words. Blaga pulled the sleeve of his robe back, revealing a keypad with a small hole at the base. The arc was almost blinding to him but he could almost make out the numbers.

Five, Zero, Two, Four, Eight.

He was unsure of the last two numbers, but at least he had something to go on. A clicking sound was heard, and the bottom half of the keypad opened, revealing a small speaker at the end. Blaga's voice was lost in the noise of electricity, so no information was gained there.

As soon as Blaga put the keypad back in his robe, the gate in front of him opened up like a curtain. Both Light and noise simultaneously died down, as four men in black hazmat suits came out with handheld scanners. "Reveal your numbers, contestants." a deep voice within the suit ordered.

One by one, they scanned each of the participants for their identification number. Mineta pulled on the collar of his shirt, as green beams of light scanned an engraved mark on his neck. After which he would get a quirk suppressant collar that clamped around the base of his neck.

The shackles were released, but that didn't matter. To Mineta, the collars were another form of entrapment. "There is food and drink ready for you in the lunch hall, I made sure to increase potion sizes so eat your heart out, maggots. ." Blaga stated with pride. As soon as they heard this, many of the prisoners ran past the warden shoving each other aside. Mineta took his time, feeling the brush of wind on his skin coming from within the prison complex, soothing his wrist

The floor was coated in a powder blue finish, black rectangular tables were placed in the center of the room with cameras placed in every corner. His eyes darted around the common area of the prison, a few of the inmates in the near entry of the lunch hall the playing with dice.

" Is that you Mineta?" a voice called out to him. It was another person he was somewhat familiar with. This man did not have a popular reputation due to being a bit of a swindler with card games. He always called it "luck" but Mineta once saw him swap cards with his own to win, most of his games ended in a straight flush., with Mineta creating a diversion for a few of them.

The man waved over to him from one of the tables, signaling him to come closer. "I knew that was you! Damn it, I was betting against you there, few of us were thinking that you might not make the first five minutes." Taris said with frown

"Good to know I have your support, asshole." Mineta replied with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Oh, don't be like that. You know I was short on money, got a lot of people to owe." Trais flipped a page of the book he was reading.

"Yeah, including me! i guess that's one less debt for you if i did." Mineta noticed that Trais was hyper focused on his book, completely disregarding everything around him.

"Whatever, im headed to my room anyways." he hopped off the table, and made his way towards the stairway leading to the 2nd level. 

He made his way towards the stairs leading up to G block and as he made the first steps upward, he felt a presence watching him. There was monitoring everywhere he went of course. but this felt different. From the corner of his eye he saw a small glimpse of a shadow. He turned around, to find no one there but Taris and the men who were playing dice. Quickly, he dismissed it as him being over-exhausted and made the climb to level 2, where block G, H, and I were located. His Identification number was same as his cell, G209, that number was engraved to his flesh. He peered through the bars to find that his cell-mate Malvo wasn't there, still in the medical ward he assumed. Mineta sat on his futon, putting the blanket over his head as his back laid on the wall. 

Mineta in the mere seconds of solitude with his thoughts slowly started to remember how he was able to live, at the cost of others.

The survival round lasted two hours, the hospital complex was large and the halls seemed never-ending. The monster that was hunting them down was the only thing that lit the hall. Light beacons were melded into its eyes, its mouth was located at the lower torso, it split into four separate rows of sharp jagged teeth that shot out like projectiles. Each tooth had a line of flesh connected to its gums, so when it priced through its target It can reel the victim into its mouth like a fishhook.

Mineta saw this firsthand, he was running with two people through the dining hall of the hospital. The monster burst through the wall and pursued them, with that same awful screech. A ray of light hit the guy on his left, and a tooth ripped through his abdomen. Mineta didn't have time to register who got hit, only that the man was screaming for help as he was dragged into the darkness. He could hear the gutting of flesh and the cracks of bone. However the beast never stopped to enjoy its kill, it wanted more.

It kept charging at them, shooting more teeth hooks all the while. Mineta in desperation, threw his sticky spheres at the monster, some of the orbs stuck the beacons lends. Cluttering its vision, the creature threw itself at Mineta it's rage overtook the hunger. A loud crash echoed thought the hall, the monster missed its target. Almost buried under heaps of concreate. "An opportunity." he thought, his face bearing a small grin. Mineta was about make a run for it, but he was stopped by plea for help. The second man who ran with him fell behind, as Mineta made the dash forward to space himself from the monster. Due to this, he caught himself dead center to Mineta's barrage. Mineta heard the cry for help, the unholy creature used its claws to rip out the spheres that obscured its lends. He could hear the shatter of the glass as it hit the floor, light once again entered the hall as two beams of light centered on the man who was trapped and vulnerable.

Because of him.

He made his decision, he ran away.

The thing that pierced his heart the most was that when they passed by the area of his great regret, seven more bodies were found. Body parts were stuck to the orbs, the hall painted red. "He wasn't a victim in this anymore." Mineta's eyes felt heavy, feeling himself drifting asleep, he grasped the blanket and tucked it around his small body. In front of Mineta's futon lay an old broken pipe with exposed wires seeping out, the static hum resonated from the wires, bits of electricity seeped out. The static warped around the dark purple spheres, in a dance, before dissipating in the air seamlessly.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Chapter Text

I don't own the rights to my hero academia or its characters 

The Barren

Chapter 3: Fragments of an unknown past

Dark, soundless, and bereft of feeling. 

The area around Mineta felt like sand with every step, but the floor below him was black and bottomless. Small arcs of light lit the surface of sky and with a loud crash a bolt, of pure energy hit the floor. Bits of charcoal colored sand to flew in Mineta’s face. “Was this a dream?” He pondered while wiping his face. 

He felt an odd sensation, like the sand beneath his feet was levateing up wards. It drifted up though mineta jumpsuit. Thunder started to rumble, as he felt his stomach drop, he’d come to a stark realization. A bolt of lightning hit the floor where he once stood. He was able to fling himself forward, nearly avoiding the strike by the skin of his teeth. Mineta had both hands over head, his entire body was in a hunched position. “That felt real!.” Mineta exclaimed, his eyes almost bulged out of his sockets. 

The floor beneath Mineta started to rise up again……

Bang! Another strike avoided.

Bang! It's getting faster!!!

Bang! Is it predicting where I'll go?!?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, the environment mended around him like clay. The floor slowly pulling his feet down like quicksand. Mineta tried to pry out his legs, but to no avail. It just quickened his descent, and even if he could pull himself out, where the hell could he run to? Feeling the mold cover his torso, he took a large intake of air.  

Mineta was fully sucked in. 

Instantly, his eyes shot open, madly darting around his environment in an attempt to take in everything at once. Mineta rested on a small blue sofa. In front of him was a table with All Might inspired fast food, and a half eaten pizza with some of the cheese string stuck to the cardboard box. The Tv in front of him played a line of crediting actors for a movie. Weirdly, the power cable was out the electric socket while it played on. 

What was more noticeable then that was the feeling of being sandwiched between two adults. Looking to his right, his eyes were face to face with something he felt he would never see again.

A young short woman with grape tinted hair lay on his right side.  “Mom..?”  he whispered out in disbelief, the mere word almost foreign to him. The moment was interrupted by a small yawn heard from his left side. A man with a skinny stature, and tattoos in the form of nordic symbols on both of his forearms. Their eyes met, he gave him a look of tender fondness that Mineta couldn't recognize. 

“Who was this man?” he thought. The stranger’s fingers shifted through dark blonde hair, then grabbed a napkin to wipe off the pizza stains on his red turtleneck T-shirt.

“Sorry we made you watch a movie during a school night kiddo.” he said with a tired grin.”

His mother woke in tandem, softly rubbing the bags under her eyes. She then gave a small glare at the older man, using her short stubby legs she leapt from the sofa, and strode towards the kitchen near the right side of the living room. She grabbed some trash bags, and some cleaning wipes. 

“This is the last time I appease your father's ideas. Thanks to this, we will have quite the rush hour of a morning!” She huffed out. As she began dumping the leftovers.

“Come on hon, don't think i didn't see the pun there.” his “father "said while removing the DVD from the disc player.

 Mineta could almost see small sparks coming from the base of the TV when the disc ejected. The clouded veil on his mind lifted just as those sparks hit the floor. Memories flowed back in like small holes in a dam. “Whoever this is, he’s no father of mine.” Mineta thought. The fact was, that his father has been absent from his life since the age of four, even since he got his quirk.  

“Go upstairs and get ready, your mother is already in a mood. ” Mineta nodded timidly, hopping off the sofa and running to the upstairs bathroom. When he reached the top, there was only a single door seen at the beginning of the hallway of the second floor. He looked over to where his mother's room would be, only to see darked hall.

  Mineta grasped the golden knob and turned it clockwise.  The bathroom floor looked wrong, there were cracks across the floor held together by small streaks of electric threading.  A large gaping hole lay where the bathroom should've been. Going up to the sink, he used a stool to take a look at his reflection in the mirror, only to find a boy staring back at him, no younger than preschool. His hair was blond with a black center, paired with a sharp face structure and small eyes laced with fear. 

 No, his.

"What is this?!” Mineta fell back, slipping from the stool and landing on the floor with his back, his left eye twitched in solemn fear for what was transpiring. He then heard his mother callout to him. 

No,  felt his mother callout to him. 

A new woman was in the kitchen preparing a bento box stuffed with rice, steak, and sushi. His mother had hair like his, exempt from the orbs and five feet in height. Now her hair was colored black and spiky and she grew six feet tall!  Dad’s laughter filled the room while he was  preparing Mineta for his first day in school. Only, when he unzipped his backpack he found it stuffed with snacks and soda instead of school supplies. His mother began scolding him for father's little prank while she brought out their completed lunches. Mineta’s ears perked up, he heard the sound of a small spark coming from the keyhole of the front door, the sound so small and unnoticeable. 

While his “mother” was organizing his bag she chastised him once again for being careless and unorganized. She didn't stop there to Mineta’s surprise, going on and on throwing every insult she had at him. 

”Useless and foolish.”

“Waste of space.”

Once creamy skin slowly grew pale, her eyes full of empty disconnection. Dad's laughter grew ever louder, and more abnormal. every giggle heard was either slowed, extended or distorted. Mineta could see his jaw dislocate and relocate continuously. Mineta wanted to run out the front door, but he was stuck in position. Mouth glued shut, his small form froze in place like a statue.  

He couldn't have a say in this even if he wanted to.

When she was finished zipping the bag, a loud rumble was felt under Mineta’s feet. The front door shuttered. Then a loud knocking came from the other side. In an instant, she then let out a small smile towards him, eyes that were once rabidly made slipped back seamlessly into motherly tenderness as his father's laughter came to a halt  

“God, you’re quite the riot kiddo!” he spoke out and let out a warm smile. His hand rested on Mineta’s shoulder in comfort, Mineta looked into the man’s eyes and he could see an unending blackness with small streaks of lightning.

 This man wasn't his father, the familiarity almost made him ignore that. There was a connection here, one he couldn't put his finger on. Throughout this dream the man never changed form like his mother did. Blonde hair, sharp face structure, “This man resembles more of the boy he saw in the mirror!” Mineta realized. “You know how she gets, when things aren't in order, she becomes a bit of a banshee.” Mineta knew that empty eyes belonged to his real mother, the venom in her words was a dose he was familiar with.

“Come on little Denki. We promised your Ma that you’ll be right on time.” the so-called father grabbed his wrist, and dragged him to the front of the door. Once he opened it Mineta saw the same voidless environment he was in before he was submerged. This time, there were buildings and roads, but all of it looked desolate, broken. Held together with the same electric thread he saw in the bathroom. 

Was his eyes deceiving him? 

He could see a figure in the distance, a silhouette of a man purely made of energy running towards them. Its movements slow, but coated in violent static. The figure drew its hand out and let out a loud thundering roar. Slowly,  the figure started to dissipate, its atoms spreading out from the neck down. It vanished, the remnants of lightning whisked away into the void. Mineta turned to his “father” in panic, hoping for comfort, hoping for a small semblance of security. Only to see half of his blooded torso, and the house behind them obliterated. 

He could hear himself let out a scream, but Mineta never felt his mouth move.

“GAH!!” his body sprung to life, panting in and out while beads of sweat slowly dripped from his forehead. Small beams of  light entered the holding cell though the space in between the steel bars. Mineta tossed his blanket aside, and searched from under his futon. From a tear within the mattress, was a small journal with a navy blue cover. To him this journal kept him sane, writing almost every thought, every rejection, solution, and conclusion. Most of all it was a dialogue to himself.  He strode over towards the bars of his cell, catching a glimpse of a clock on a nearby tower in between the gap of the cell block.

“Time, 4am.” he noted  He quickly jotted down his dream, and a name he made sure to never forget. 

“Denki”

I hope you enjoyed it!!!

Chapter Text

I don't own the rights to my hero academia or its characters.

Chapter 4: Shearing the wool 

1 year prior

Date: May 1st/201X

A new light hit the urban city of Naruhata, light that fills the streets, reflects on the surface of old buildings and bounce from window to window. Its marketplace still has life to breathe even during the night, people roam the streets eager to find new sales and discounts on groceries. Even if this city feels underdeveloped in its infrastructure, with rows of archaic quadrilateral apartments, the people here keep it alive. Two men traverse through the crowd, both in navy blue police uniforms. The younger man near the curb of the street stumbled behind, his arms carrying a box full of files in a hefty stack. 

“Couldn't we have picked a better time to drop off this crap? It takes everything not to drop a single file!” The young cadet groaned. 

“You kidding!? They’ll have our hides back in the station!” The elder supervisor pushed past a few civilians roughly. “Make way! Police coming though!” The young cadet carefully followed suit.

“Are the rumors true boss?” he whispered out, almost drowned by the bustling sounds of the marketplace.

“Hm? You mean the reason for the recent influx of big name heroes coming over to Naruhatta?” The cadet nodded in response.

“I can’t share too many details, but I can at least give you this. Our department will be working with the Nighteye agency on recent human trafficking cases.”  

“What!! No way! Those guys are top level! even regarded highly by All Might.” The cadets eyes almost sparkled while mentioning this, spouting praise after parise about the different near impossible cases solved by Nighteye, especially their recent involvement in the Shape shifting scandal case over in I-island.

The elder man gave out a teasing smile, “You thinking of getting his autograph? Forget it, he's not the type of man for small meaningless things, plus he's way too busy with other cases. We are to forward any leads to his office, and work with whoever is appointed to us.”

“Where are we taking these files again? It better be worth killing my legs over. " The cadet asked

“Ah yes, well it seemed they needed the help of someone who resided outside of the department as well. A private investigator and ex-cop from Detective Naomasa’s police force. ” He pulled out a crumpled up paper from his back pocket, opening it up and putting the paper up where the cadet could see it. The young officer’s eyes widened in shock almost tripping over. A few of the files slipped from the top of the bin and onto the sidewalk.

“Him?! Didn't he get fired for working with a vigilante? He has a criminal record!  he shouted out. 

The elder cop let out a grunt, “Carefull, those documents are important!” The cadet with an apologetic look set the box aside, picking up the sheets of paper as the crowd of onlookers walked by. His supervisor rolled his eyes as he crouched down to help the cadet.

“Your reaction is reasonable, but it is a stark comparison  to the department manager. That call turned into a full blown argument that could be heard from the basement floor.” The elder cop said while snickering. 

After sorting the stack the pair moved forward. The marketplace crowd started to lessen as they traveled 3 blocks down. The office was near the town tavern, it was a one story building used to house multiple businesses in Naruhatta. The cadet shifted through the building’s directory near a keypad next to the left side of the door.  He entered the number “9321” after the first three rings the door opened up. The walls were painted in  grey monochrome, their boots made small crunches as they walked on a dark green carpet. On the second to last door, lay a marked sign with engraved letters the read out,

Doctor M’s Incorporated

In the center of the room lay a clean smooth metal desk, the windows floor were spotlessly clean and had the aroma of cleaning detergents. Four file cabinets are lined in a single file on the left corner of the room. The whirr of a fan can be heard, its breeze blowing toward the direction of a man sleeping on a coach. His attire was that of a surgeon, he swung side to side trying to fall asleep after a long day’s work. 

Knock knock knock .  

“Damnit! Even when the day is done the night never sleeps.” he cursed. Getting up from the coach, he made his way towards the peephole of the door. He let out a small grin, as he unlocked the door lock. The door swung open. 

“Officer Yosa! Pretty late arent you?” The Captain merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Had to train the new cadet, we brought the case files you requested.” He said pointing to the newbie carrying the bin.

“Captain, why are we talking to a surgeon? Where is the investigator?” 

“You're looking at it, this is Doctor Malvo, we don't use his real name during the job for confidentiality purposes.” The cadet was gob smacked, what kind of quack agency is this?

“Bring “the patient” to my table. I will perform a flawless C section on this case to deliver the TRUTH! .” Malvo proclaimed grabbing two rubber gloves from his right pocket, he pulled the glove back stretching it near the end of his forearm, an audible snap was heard. With a gesture, he led the way inside to his office. The cadet followed last, kicking the door using his back foot since his arms were already occupied. 

“So what are we working with?” Malvo mumbled while digging into the file bin. He pulled out a certain yellow file. 

Name: Oliva Artino (Transfer student.)

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Nationality: Italian

Physical: five four in height, with Red hair

School: Ketsubutsu Academy High school

Statis: Missing since April 20th

Her last known location was near the Osaka Post office near the end of Dojima river. She was making her way to a postal office after school hours. The CCTV cameras showed that she reached the mailing office, grabbed a few letters and ran out the door. The street camera showed that she was sprinting erratically, made a slight detour in the alleyways and then disappeared. Her apartment was cleared out as if she never lived there at all. We tried to get in contact with her parents over in Italy but the parents in question stated they never had a daughter named Oliva.

“Interesting, how many cases were similar to her?” He questioned, while surfing though file after file. 

“About 24 out of the 30 are documented to be in the same M.O. All twenty four of the victims came from overseas, vanished after exiting the post office. Twelve were in the category of working class men and women. Three students, in the middle to high school variety. Four government employees, and two heroes. These missing cases appeared over seven months.” Malvo's face tensed as the captain read out the document from the statistical service bureau.

“I can assume this Oliva girl was a recent case.  Have you verified the visa documents and her transfer papers?” The Captain gave a small nod.

“There was no evidence of forgery, same with her Italian citizenship. We recently received some information of her roots, the parents listed on the transfer documents are not her biological ones. In fact, they never had any custody papers when their  names came up in the orphans registry database.”  Captain Yosa handed Malvo the file containing the information brought from overseas.

“I can almost see the rot of corruption clogging the arteries of this mystery.” Malvo grimised

“What on your mind, Doctor?” the cadet asked with awe and anticipation.

“Dissect the facts with me, Gentlemen. Lack of forgery, no biological roots, missing custody papers, and sent over from Italy to Japan only to turn up missing. Oliva was trafficked here legally under the guise of being a transfer student.” Captain Yosa let out a small whistle while the cadets jaw dropped, both impressed by how fast he came to that conclusion. 

“I'm sure the Nighteye’s agency would have come to the same result. All we need to do now gentlemen is to review the other cases and try to link them together. Four questions need to be answered and we already have What and When . Now we need to figure out the How and Why. ”  Malvo clicked his scalpel-like pen, as he finished writing on a small black notebook. 

“Then the post office will be our first stop.” Captain Yosa grabbed a box containing rubber gloves, a distant snapping of rubber was heard. The young cadet rolled his eyes in embarrassment, and Malvo gave off an ear splitting smirk. The elder officer simply, gave off a small shrug.

“What? It feels good.” 

Hope you enjoyed!