Koko's cave of the Anything
de Lutias'Kokopelli

Ono-C5.4α
Mōri Agency, Tōkyō (Japan)
March 2^nd, 1997 — 11:53 AM
Intersection Beika 2-Chome.

He was now certain of it. There was no other possibility, it had to be there.
The television kept displaying a map of the Beika district of Tōkyō. Red dots were running along the streets in what appeared at first to be somewhat random movements, but mere seconds of observation were all that was needed for him to realize that this apparent unpredictability was in fact hiding a perfectly calculated logic.

These things, whatever they were, had killed around a dozen unidentified victims according to the police and army. They seemed bestial and their behavior appeared to be based on instinct at first, but what he could see here… showed that somehow, there actually was some sense of coordination between their movements. An actual, well-thought, strategy.


Well, as well-thought as it was, it was no match for him: these creatures were all coming from the same point, and according to their global movements, all he had to do in order to find their common origin was to follow their itineraries in the reverse direction, until he managed to connect the dots— quite literally. These hundreds of red dots were getting away the ones from the others… and getting away from this one single place, this intersection between Avenue 4-Chome and the boulevard leading to the Beika Bridge.

Intersection Beika 2-Chome.


Another snore pulled him out of his thoughts; annoyed by such sudden and useless distraction, the child glared at a man in his early forties who was lying asleep on his desk. Not shaved, messy black hair, badly arranged shirt collar, using his crossed arms as a makeshift pillow, surrounded by a small pile of empty beer cans…
Sighing, the young boy turned his blasé eyes back towards the screen and pouted, mumbling to himself that he really was hopeless.


He readjusted a pair of glasses that seemed a little too big for his face, frowned and leaned slightly forward, as his right elbow rested on his knee so that he could put his head between his pensive fingers. Some black hair fell in front of his azure eyes, but he paid no attention to it, as he was already completely absorbed in his thoughts regarding the television’s map and the message an anonymous voice kept repeating again and again:

“We do not know yet what these creatures are, but the authorities will do everything they can to stop them. For the time being, it is strictly forbidden to all civilians in Tōkyō to get out from their homes until further notice. We have at our disposal a map of the town which displays these creatures’ positions and movements at all times. It is recommended to stay alert and seal all your exits.”


There was more than just one reason to find this broadcast suspicious. He was firstly curious to know how they would be able to trace so many signals of these creatures so easily; he was certain it couldn’t be that simple. He was also much more curious about why the authorities would bother to display so openly such map; if all citizens were supposed to remain inside their houses, why would they show such information? If anything, all it could do was tempt some people’s curiosity and put them in danger.


And last but not least, there was still the mystery of what these creatures were. His rational mind could hardly accept their mere existence. This was pure madness.
These creatures were extremely aggressive, especially towards human beings. All that could be known about them was that their modus operandi was to chase some humans, and that for some reason, as soon as there would be some physical contact between them— both would be merely disintegrated. Or fall to ashes, apparently, it was hard to tell. It wasn’t like he had been able to witness anything from his current position.
But this simply wasn’t possible. Creatures like these could not exist. Massive murders like these could not exist. You don’t turn people into coal in a split second. Old folklore deities like Yōkai don’t exist. Magic does not exist.


Whatever means the culprit was using, there just had to be a rational explanation. And there had to be a rational motive, too.


Anyway, reasoning like this wouldn’t lead him anywhere. So where was he? Right, Intersection Beika 2-Chome. Even though he wasn’t suicidal enough to consider getting out and investigating right now on the field, he had to admit that it was the only way he had to collect any further hints. The forensics sure wouldn’t share their results with civilians like him, let alone with an apparent six-year-old boy who just happened to look slightly smarter than the average.


He still felt hesitant about going out under such conditions, but if he used his turbo engine skateboard, the intersection would be hardly five minutes away from his current location.
Still, he had no idea which was faster between the things and his skateboard, and he wasn’t willing to find out on the field.


And yet…

Turn right upon leaving the Mōri Agency.
Go straight until the first intersection.
Turn right again and keep going straight until you reach Beika Park.
Cross the avenue, then go through a little net of alleys eventually leading to the end of Avenue 4-Chome.
Turn right one last time and go through Avenue 4-Chome until the intersection, hardly a dozen meters further.

This one itinerary was almost completely spared by the red dots. It had been since the very beginning. It was so obvious. Apart from the first part of the route, not the slightest creature had ever been on any of these portions of the town; and even there, if you were just smart enough, it was easy to calculate a way to effectively avoid them.
Was it a coincidence? That was doubtful. Apart from these few obstacles…

… Wait a minute.

He froze.

No.
It couldn’t be.

The Mōri Agency and this new place he just noticed were part of the same neighborhood, thus the two itineraries were quite similar. But while the first route he had figured still contained a few obstacles, this new one was entirely devoid of red dots.
There was a perfectly clear path between Intersection Beika 2-Chome and the Kudō Residence.


It couldn’t be.
Why?
He had to be wrong. He just had to.


He checked again and again, but there was no mistake. The path was clear. Way too clear.


It was a challenge. They were defying him to solve the case.
No, not him; Him.
Kudō Shinichi. His real identity.


They were defying the high school detective Kudō Shinichi, the Japanese “Heisei Holmes”, to stop them. Him, and nobody else.
But who were these guys? What did they want from him!?


These guys were psychopaths.

Someone had to stop them.

He had to stop them.


⚠ L'image en tête de chaque article est un pixel-art de ma part et chaque chapitre en aura un différent, mais il est à noter que les sprites utilisés sont inspirés de ceux de "London Life", un jeu Professeur Layton disponible dans le menu extra de PL4 (pour les versions japonaise et américaine seulement). Ainsi, les sprites des personnages de l'univers PL proviennent du jeu originel. De plus, dans le cas exceptionnel présent, certains sprites du fandom DC ont été repris (avec permission) de ceux précédemment créés par WanderingBoredom afin d'économiser du temps.
En revanche, certains "pixel-arts" contiendront effectivement des sprites que j'aurai entièrement scratchés.