Greyson wasn't sure if he could ever get used to the sight of dead bodies.

It didn't matter how they looked. Whether they were twisted and turned into a human pretzel like the last time or if they were lying down on the ground with a pool of blood below them, they would always make him want to turn around and throw up. Once he would see them, he would find it hard to forget what they looked like. He could still vividly remember the last three cases, and he had to stop eating a few times whenever they flashed in his head.

Corpses reeked, looked disgusting, made him want to stab his eyes out--they were every repulsive word he could think of. Being a member of the Department of Unnatural Occurrences meant he had to see dead bodies most, if not all, the time--especially since he was in the Investigation Squad. Whether he was out in the field or in the office, there probably wasn't a day where he wouldn't see a dead body.

But that didn't mean he could get used to seeing them.

And today's victim wasn't any better.

Dayanna Linn, a journalist in her early twenties working for the Portia Times. He somewhat knew Dayanna; she was close to the Investigation Squad. Sometimes, she interviewed them for reports, and on rare occasions helped them with their investigations. It made his stomach twist that someone he knew, even if she was just an acquaintance, had been murdered when they were just talking normally yesterday.

Fortunately, today wasn't one of those days where their limbs were twisted, slightly easing his mind. He would have ran back to the car if that was the case.

She'd been hit in the head, and then stabbed in the chest multiple times. Ciel, their intern that had the ability to see short glimpses of the past, said that the killer used a monitor to hit her, then killed her with a knife. Unfortunately, there was neither a bloody or shattered monitor nor a knife left in the crime scene.

His grip on his pen tightened when he wrote those in his digital notepad, and he swore his nails were tearing his gloves. He was glad that he never saw the body, or else he would have thrown up the little breakfast that he had.

How anyone could get used to the sight of dead people, he wasn't sure. Or maybe they weren't used to it, either. Maybe they all wanted to throw up inside, just like him. But he admired that they were able to keep a straight face while looking at corpses. After all, it was just another day, another victim of an unnatural death like murder, a staged accident, faked suicide--the list went on and on and on.

"Greyson?"

Greyson lifted his head, turning to the person that called his name. Ciel stood next to him. His brows were furrowed down, but then he shook his head and smiled. "You doing alright? You've been spacing out for a while now."

He nodded, but then immediately shook his head. "I don't think any of us are paid enough to do this."

"You can say that again." Ciel sighed and leaned on his older brother's car. "On the plus side, at least you didn't see it from Ate Dayanna's perspective. I wish I could unsee it."

"Not what you were expecting for a first case, huh?"

"Not really." He shook his head. "Do you want me to get you something to eat? Kuya Azul said that we might take a while, so you'll probably get hungry. Do you want anything?"

Greyson hummed. Then, he grabbed his satchel and took out his phone. He flipped it open and sent some money to Ciel's account. "I guess you can buy something in that café over there. You can also ask the others in the office if they want anything, but coffee should be fine for me. Do you know what Kuya Azul would like?"

Ciel nodded, letting him continue. "That should be enough for the entire squad, so don't be afraid to get something that you like for yourself."

"Greyson!"

He turned his head to the left. Ciel's older brother, Azul, stood in front of the building's entrance. There were two other police officers with him talking to each other.

"It's your turn, kid," Azul continued. "We're heading inside!"

Greyson turned to Ciel one last time. "We'll see you after you're done."

Hands on his bag's strap, Greyson took small steps forward to Azul. His pace quickened when he saw Azul turn to him once again, and he mentally slapped himself for thinking that walking slowly was a good idea.

Once he reached him, Azul smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Took you long enough." He lifted his head and turned to the two officers with them. "This is my partner for today, Greyson Saffirus. As long as the laptop is okay, he'll be able to scan it."

Greyson lifted his head and stared at the two police officers. One of them was officer Tayla, a cop regularly dispatched during their investigations. The other one, however, was someone he didn't recognize. He looked younger than Ciel, perhaps around sixteen or seventeen. His ears weren't pointed, which meant he wasn't a wielder.

The young officer shifted his head from Tayla, then to him. He felt his own ears flop down, and he stepped closer to Azul. And here comes the questions.

"You're... you're Greyson Saffirus?" he asked.

Greyson nodded.

"I was hop- exp- hoping you'd be... older. How- how old are you?"

"I'm twelve."

His jaw dropped. "I- I heard you were young, but I didn't think you were that young." He hummed, and his eyes flicked upwards. "Your hair is very nice."

Greyson reached for two locks of his hair--one on the left that was white like his mother, and one on the right that was black. "Thank you."

"It's good to see you again, Greyson," Officer Tayla began. She placed a hand on the boy next to her and continued, "This is Stera. He just joined us a month or so ago, and this is his first murder case. Stera, take them inside. I'll talk to the others and piece together what we've found so far."

"A- Alright." Stera nodded. "Please, fo- follow me."

Stera was the first one who entered the building. Greyson stared at Azul, and he caught a quick glimpse of his blue eyes looking at him. Other than that, he didn't say a word. He followed Stera inside, and Greyson didn't wait to be called for a second time. He held his bag's strap once again and darted inside. The cool air greeted his skin, making him take a deep breath. Though he immediately regretted his decision when the scent of blood reached his nose, almost making him gag.

"We found her laptop in the office," Stera said. "Whoever killed her last night probably didn't- didn't notice it because both her computer and tablet were broken. But her laptop was un- untouched, and there weren't any other traces on the case apart from Miss Linn's. Unfortunately, it's password protected, and none of her coworkers know her password."

Greyson mentally groaned. Great, another locked device that he had to open. Fantastic.

Next to him, Azul chuckled. "Easy there, kid. You're really jumpy."

"I- I- I'm sorry." Stera placed a hand on his nape. "Like what Officer Tayla said, this is my first murder case and- and, well, it's..."

"Don't worry, I understand you. It's our intern's first mission too, and he's been quieter than usual. Ah, we're here."

The three of them stopped at the end of the hallway. The door was slightly ajar, and a few pieces of police tape covered the entrance. The password protected lock didn't look jammed, nor did the door look like it was forced.

Greyson turned to Stera and asked, "What else happened last night?"

"We're not sure." Stera shook his head. "The security footage didn't show anything. The monitors were static for one or two hours. The last thing it showed was Miss Linn working. When it went back to normal, she was... well, dead."

"A wielder?"

"Most likely."

Azul pulled back the police tape, letting the three of them inside the office. The moment he entered, Greyson held onto Azul's arm and resisted the urge to puke. Azul held him by his shoulder, while his other hand patted his head. It was enough comfort to stop the tears welling in Greyson's eyes, but he wasn't sure if it was enough to give him strength.

This was where Dayanna died. This was where someone he knew died.

He shook his head and turned away from Azul. He could cry to his mom later; he had work to finish first.

Stera picked up a bag and a laptop in front of them. He tapped his hand on the trackpad twice. The screen lit up, showing the lock screen and the bar for the password.

Azul hummed and tapped his finger on the table twice. "Apart from you, who else touched the laptop during the investigation?"

"J- Just me."

Greyson removed both of his gloves from his hands and wiped off any sweat that gathered. "I'm going in."

"Hold on." Azul placed a hand in front of him. "I'm coming with you. Dayanna's reports and investigations were connected to us, so I want to see what she found. Stera, watch over our bodies."

Stera blinked. "What?"

"You'll see." Greyson fished for a spare flash drive in his bag and inserted it in the laptop--he frowned when it didn't fit the USB port, even after flipping it five times. A smile formed on his face when it finally managed to stick.

He turned to Azul and held out his hand. "You know what to expect."

Azul grabbed his fingers and scoffed. "I still don't."

With a deep breath, Greyson placed his hand on the keyboard. Yellow sparks of lightning flashed at the tips of his fingers, and he felt the surge of electricity rushing in his veins. No matter how many times he did it, it still felt ticklish. He tightened his grip on Azul and closed his eyes. Light filled his vision, and he felt something dragging his chest. Next to him, Azul screamed, though the sound of electricity drowned it all out.

With a snap, all of it stopped.

When Greyson opened his eyes once again, he was standing on a small, blue platform. Binary code floated around him in the same bright blue color, while the vast space was a slightly duller shade.

Azul lifted himself up and patted his coat. "I'm so glad I can't feel anything right now."

"Sorry." Greyson chuckled and held his arm. "I'm a bit out of practice with guests."

Azul brushed his spiky brown hair back, then placed his hands on his hips. "Alright, what are we dealing with?"

Greyson placed his hands in front of him, showing the password screen once again. He narrowed his eyes and slowly spun his left hand down. More code appeared in front of his glasses, almost making him snap out of focus. He summoned a small keyboard in his free hand, then typed Dayanna's password.

Only for him to frown.

"Password12345," he said with a groan. "Her password is 'Password12345' with a capital 'P'. Anyway, we're in. What do you want me to look for?"

"Anything related to the DUO. If she wasn't using her laptop last night, I doubt we'll find anything in her recents."

Greyson nodded. He swiped his arms to the side. The binary code around them started moving, shifting between zeroes and ones. Folders popped up, though some of them disappeared in a flash of numbers and letters. After a while, only three things remained. He couldn't tell what the first file's name was. Apart from it being a keyboard smash instead of an actual name, it was also glitching.

He hummed as he turned to the other two files. "They're all glitching. Weird."

"This one says '1541'," Azul said as he pointed to the one in the middle. "That's last year."

"That's when the murders started, right?"

"November and December, specifically." Azul cupped his chin and hummed. He stared at the three files in front of them for a while, then nodded. "Does your flash drive have room for all three of them? I don't want you to use all of your energy just to grab three files."

"It'll fit, don't worry." If anything, he was more worried about them glitching. Maybe he could ask Viktor later. He was more knowledgeable with things like this.

Greyson placed one hand in front of him and tapped the air twice. In a flash, a pop-up of his empty flash drive appeared. He swiped his hand to the side once again, selecting every file on the screen, and placed them inside. It was another while when it finally finished, though he swore it felt like an eternity.

"And we're done." He clapped his hands twice, making everything disappear.

"Finally," Azul said as he stood up from the platform. "Let's get out of here. Not feeling my lungs is weird."

Greyson stretched his hand to him. "You might want to hold on. Leaving hurts more than entering."

"I think you need to work on your ways of comforting people."

Even so, Azul still grabbed his hand. Greyson couldn't tell if it was tighter than the last time, but he had a feeling that it was. With another deep breath, he dragged himself and Azul out of the laptop. As long as their bodies were still holding onto it, he and Azul had nothing to worry about.

In a flash, he felt his chest burn when air reached his lungs. He shot his eyes open, and a gasp left his lips. One of his hands reached for his chest, while the other one held the table. Next to him, Azul gasped as well, and he cursed when his foot hit the table.

"Sedah needs to pay us more," he whispered as he slowly stood up. "Stera, is there anything else we need to know?"

Greyson turned his head to Stera, who was standing at the corner of the room. His eyes were wide, while both of his hands were on his chest and clutching his phone. It almost made him laugh, even if this was a normal reaction to people who had never seen him wield before. In Stera's perspective, he and Azul probably looked like they died and came back to life.

Stera shook his head. "N- No, that was... that was all..."

"Great, we'll be taking the laptop if that's fine."

"G- Go ahead."

"Pack up, Greyson. We're heading back."

Greyson wore his gloves once again before placing the laptop back in its bag. Once he zipped it close, he turned to Stera and smiled. He was still in the same place he'd been earlier, so Greyson simply waved a hand to him before following Azul out.

I made a pretty banner and did some art so I'm required to have author's notes this time. And today's author's note is that you are free to mock everyone in this book with their fashion choices except for Ciel (pronounced "Shyel" like the actual French pronunciation whether you like it or not) because he's just wearing his school uniform.