Saihara's POV:

The night was young, but one of the first things you lose after becoming a detective is a proper sleeping schedule. That's one of the harder things to adjust to because sometimes the job demanded you to be up before the sun could ever threaten the horizon, while at the same time be wide awake long after the moon had graced the sky with its presence. Black coffee despite its bitterness ran through my veins as much as blood, with infrequent naps in between making me finally understand why my father always looked the way he did. But for a detective, there isn't any sort of pity to be given through the job, because your job is to be the deliverer of bad news or to provide that comfort and sympathy to those who cry out for answers.

Even if those answers aren't pleasant ones.

Themis was the reason why.

Four thousand nine hundred and twenty-three children ranging from as young as eleven years old to as old as seventeen were killed in what was now known as the purity cleanses of the country. In addition to those casualties is an unmeasurable amount of people who might've been threatened like I had been the night Ouma had told me the truth. There had been a gunshot, and from what pieces I could find there was a correlation between unnatural causes of death or strange disappearances to those connected to those victims from fellow class members, to teachers, and neighbors. To those who learned too much, they were silenced till it became clear that the whole world knew, and Themis's greatest strength of being small enough to remain under the radar became its greatest weakness when the country at large all knew of its existence and the organization that had relied on its tight hold on corporate heads and politicians lost their grip and fell from those same people it preyed on. 

You can't reason with a madman is another important lesson you have to learn fast.

While you can argue with an intelligent man, those who had fallen to insanity such as the heads of such an organization were clearly to at least my eyes were far from any kind of revelation as to the atrocities they committed. 

Themis was born from suffering, however.

In a broken world that had been frequently torn apart by war, poverty, and corruption desperate people tried to gain what control they could from their situation. And that's where my sympathy had to end because the only people those same individuals found they held power over was children. Children, the hopes for the future, and in their eyes they saw those same children as a garden. A garden that needed care to, but not from nurturing and giving time and compassion to, not with gentle teaches but with killing and removing the imperfections to create a manmade world down to the finite core. 

Yet by inflicting such suffering on the surviving youth, and continuing to push the line of corruption they potentially had created an even worse world. One that still needed fixing, and if I ever got to truly take a break once for the rest of my life I would consider it a miracle. But I would rather save all those miracles left in the world for a violet-haired boy with eyes full of unknown and unseen strength and perseverance. 

Two years. He had been missing for two years and the world had moved on without him.

But his absence was noticed. In the shut-down abandoned school that he once frequented every day for nearly his entire life people for months had left candles, flowers, and organized prayers that he would find his way home. And when that school had finally barred its doors and fallen due to the crimes they had committed, those same windows that also had been hurled stones at had been refashioned with soda bottle cap curtains from those same classmates that were too young and too scared to know how to help him. Those cracked and once charred walls were painted over, and a large mural now stood with slightly weathered paint, one of a giant mask of a clown. A clown mask I never once saw in life.

A mask which pieces were found underneath a dead mother's floorboards, with a checkerboard scarf, and countless letters that had been scribbled out beyond any sort of recognition. Words that she must've known could never convey what needed to be done, what needed to be said. A mother that left her son, and unknowingly to her, a son that left the entire world in shambles. 

Yet when the seasons changed, life had been forced to continue. When the seasons changed, there came the efforts to work on the greater problems, and hope dwindled down and soon died. Soon it became clear that the boy known as Kokichi Ouma was dead. That the boy that a town had once abused now mourned for, but despite all these efforts to make amends and memorialize Ouma...it filled me with resentment.

Resentment that they never gave him this support and kindness when he was here to witness it, and bitterness for coming too fast in my own opinion to the notion that Ouma was truly gone from this world. 

"Shuichi?" my father called, snapping me out of my thoughts. We were in the car we had rented, passing through the town as I gazed at the night sky ahead. The sky was deep indigo and the cold chill of the ac chilled my bones. The lamposts gave off flickering beams of light as we slowly approached the gated community near the north side of the town, the distinction was clear with the way the landscape had been meticulously cared for, and the lack of cracks or bumps much more prevalent in the lower side of the town especially where Ouma had lived.

"Sorry, I was just thinking" I apologized, "that's fine, it's late and after the interview, we can go and get some coffee. Maybe a nap," my father told me with careful consideration. "I think we both know we won't be able to have time to sleep" I yawned. "It's a nice gesture, the bags under your eyes are signs of experience" my father argued, "Uncle Shoto used to tell me that the early wrinkles and grey hair would make me unable to ever find love" I mentioned. "Well I married your mother after surviving thirty-six hours without sleep, so I think there is hope for you Shuichi" he encouraged me.

"And...if I happen to like men...?" I asked bracing myself for whatever response came. My father paused looking at me slightly surprised, "I thought you were bisexual" he admitted. I blushed embarrassed, "oh...so you knew," I said cursing internally for the awkward situation I found myself in. "Your mother knew, when you were younger you used to have a very obvious crush on some boy from Chiasa's piano recitals. I forgot the name of the kid, but your mother thought it was adorable" he told me fondly.

"Oh, I don't remember that" I responded trying to force the fuzzy memory back. "I don't blame you, you were only maybe six at the time. It was so brief, even I didn't notice it till your mother told me about it. I don't care who you love though Shuichi as long as it doesn't interfere with your work, and of course, the relationship is healthy" my father explained. "That's...not how I thought the conversation would go" I admitted. "Why? Your mother was pan didn't you know?" He asked confused.

"Wait what?" I blurted out confused, "yeah your mother used to have girlfriends in high school before we got together. I was the first one your mother came out to, even if we were on bad terms I never would've shamed you for this." My father assured me though he seemed disappointed in himself. "That's...a lot to process" I mumbled. "And unfortunately no time to, we're here," my father said as I glanced out the window to find where we had ended up.

Three days prior we had received an anonymous tip from the nearby station about someone who was believed to have known the true culprit. Not the identity of the killer, but the one who ordered the death of DICE in the first place. The tip however despite the anonymity wasn't hard to pinpoint where it had come from, not only from the location it had been sent but also due to the security footage showing the man in question dropping off the letter with the less than subtle lavender sheet of paper it had been received in.

The Otome's.

The house was traditional, and the architecture was pleasing to the eye. From beyond the fence, I could see a well-cared-for garden, and every piece of the property seemed to be sized up for perfection down to the individual placement of stone to the front entrance as my father and I walked down. We didn't even have to knock on the door before an average-sized man opened the door. He had dark grey hair with a few strands of plum, and dark brown eyes as he sighed stretching the door wider and allowing us entrance.

"Detective Saihara...and Detective Saihara, it's a pleasure" he greeted shutting the door behind us. Inside the home was just as well managed as the gardens, with cream-colored walls and beautiful cherry wood paneling for the floors. However, what caught my eye was in the entrance room at the end of the hall was a large family picture that took up almost the entire wall space yet was also incredibly dated.

The photo held the man in question from much younger days, he still had his plum hair with only a few streaks of grey rather than the color he sported now. He was wearing a yukata, and his hair was long yet still kept in a neat style. He was sitting adjacent to a woman with white hair, which looked to be her natural color, she had however brilliant blue eyes that had an icy hue to them. She wore a simple dress of blue yet the ornate gold detailing seemed added to show her higher status. Kneeling on the floor however was what truly showed the age of the photo, it showed two identical girls of around seven years old. Both had light blue eyes and incredibly pale skin, similar to their parents. Their lilac hair was kept in a tidy updo, and both wore kimonos and those were the only things separating the two girls. It was a bit surprising looking at it as I never recalled Ouma mentioning Tsuki Otome having a twin.

"Kagami," the man said, I turned to him as he continued, "that picture was taken a year before my first daughter died." He explained as he approached the picture and looked at it. A small sense of longing in his eyes, "she was nearly eight when she had died, it was an accident. The two girls had been exploring near the shrines and they slipped, we couldn't find them till hours later and by then Kagami was already dead. Little did I know my poor Tsuki would not be far from the grave either" he said with true remorse.

"I'm sorry for your loss" I apologized to him, he shook his head. "You can't linger on the past, lest it consumes you. Come, I prepared some tea in advance. I admit your arrival was very anticipated" he said as he led us to a small room where a small teapot and two cups already were waiting. "So why did you send the tip then if you didn't even want to ignore us or the investigation?" My father asked confused. Otome kept their gaze on their teacup, "because I wanted to keep suspicions low, the person in question is a well-connected individual and if he figured out from the moles in your department then he would've fled long before I could finish explaining. No, it was better to let the man continue to believe he was still safe till your group can get a warrant" he explained calmly.

"So who did it?" I asked bracing myself for whatever answer would come my way. This made the man look up at me, his gaze studying my own before setting down his cup. "The mayor, Momotaro Hojo" he answered.

"I have my reasons of course, though nothing of concrete proof. Back in the day, he used to have a social group that more often than not talking about the current problems facing the town. I thought nothing of it and didn't attend those meetings frequently due to more often the not the conversations including Tsuki and DICE's latest shenanigans to my great shame. However now as I look back on these meetings they seem more suspicious. For one thing, they included the school director despite his less than stellar reputation and standing with the rest of the town even back then. He often was the black sheep, the only one from a middle-class family in attendance. He always looked uncomfortable in those meetings, and they often paled when DICE was mentioned. I used to believe it was a shame for the reputation it brought the school district, but the fact he never once confronted me on my daughter's behavior makes me think otherwise.

"I also know that the mayor's behavior subtly changed following the vandalism of the store. Supposedly he knows the owner, but I never met the man so I can't verify those claims. However, the mayor had connections to most of the more popular businesses and organizations in town, from the hospital to the local newspaper. So if anyone would have the resources and connections to cover up their crimes, it would be him. Especially after what he wrote to me the week after Tsuki died." He further explained as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a long letter with crisp paper.

Dear Otome Haido,

No words can express the amount of sorrow I feel over this tragedy. No words can fully describe the loss our small and quaint community felt when the ash settled down and the tides rolled in when your daughter was found. The loss of life is always a thing to mourn, and the loss of a child so young and bright made our hearts weep for you and the misfortune that the gods have given to you. For you to have lost, not one, but both of your children is a wound that seldom experience. 

Your daughter was a bright child, one that spread an aura of peace wherever she went, and a girl who will be cherished and missed by all of us who were graced by her presence during the short life she had. While she was a troublemaker I believe there was some virtue to her, and I still remember fondly the beautiful flower gardens she assisted my wife in designing, who also if she was still here would have mourned heavily for your daughter. Why she went down the path she did is still admittedly unclear to me, but may peace be given to the broken and torn body and soul of your daughter, and her mind is clear of the madness that drove her to self-destruction. 

May in the rubble we find that there is more to her than what we ever could see.

Good luck my friend, good luck and take care.

Taro

"The wording...with the wording of torn body, when her real cause of death was revealed to me I kept going back to the wording and I realized what its purpose likely was. It was to convince me of an idea because in a letter meant to comfort someone why would he in that same letter regard my child as someone who had gone insane? Why would he so frequently mention words relating to the fire and the ocean, unless it was to further cement the idea in my mind? It may not be enough, but I hope this will be enough...enough to at least reason why he should be investigated and interrogated further" Otome concluded as I finished scanning the letter. "This was very valuable information, thank you," I told him in an earnest tone as I got up and prepared to leave. He nodded though it looked like he still had something left to say, my father eyes his expression with a concerned expression before he glanced over towards me, "I need to take a call, I'm sure it won't be a problem if Shuichi stayed a few more minutes" my father lied and Otome nodded, a bit too quickly for my liking.

With that confirmation, my father turned away from the two of us and left the house. Otome stared at me with slight hesitation as he pulled another letter from his jacket and showed it to me. It had already been opened long ago as well, but the envelope had been saved for this one. The envelope was once a white color, but it had been painted over in watercolors to show beautiful lilac flowers, along with a large moon on it as well. Signed in the corner was the name Kiibo, and the letter's dedicated recipient was Tsuki.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I have done" Otome finally said. "I don't understand, what are you sorry for?" I asked confused, as he glanced down to the floor in shame. "I will never claim to be a good father, not for one day in my life, I think I ever was. But I did care...but maybe I didn't show it the way that I wanted to.

"Kagami was such a closed-off child, I thought she just preferred being alone. She didn't have the same natural talents her sister had been blessed with, so I paid more attention to Tsuki. Tsuki needed that attention to foster her gifts, that is what I was always told, and how Kagami seemed happy being by herself. That might be my greatest regret, my children fought over this and I didn't understand why Kagami kept growing so angry and distant. She slowly pulled away and I remember, how for hours at a time she would disappear into the surrounding woods and when she came back...I didn't even notice. No, I pretended not to notice, because I thought this helped her. It made her calmer, I thought it was helping us...but it didn't.

"And that day she left with her sister in tow, I thought she would be safe. I thought for all her endless wandering she would know all the paths by then, I trusted her to keep herself and her sister safe. But I was wrong, I didn't know my daughter. I didn't know what she might have or might not have been capable of, and because I didn't give her the attention she needed my daughter ended up in the ground. 

"But I still had a child left, she still needed someone. She lost some of her memories after the accident, her behavior changed due to her trauma. Her mother and I realized that grief would hold us back, that if we focused too much on what we had lost we wouldn't be able to help who we had left. Sometimes I wonder if that was the truly correct course because soon Tsuki started falling behind in school...not for lack of intelligence, which I know she had. But because she didn't care anymore. She didn't want to try anymore...I thought it was depression.

"Maybe it was. Even now years later...I don't understand either of them. Even at Tsuki's funeral, I'm ashamed to say it was hard to mourn because despite her being my child I knew nothing about her. She was the exact stranger her sister had been to me at her death, I just knew she was brave, brave to have come out of her shell though I will always be disappointed in how that came out. But maybe not enough...not enough to ask me for help.

"I said some very vulgar things to your Kokichi Ouma before he left. I still mean some of those things, but I know what those words impact...and I regret what I have done. Not what I said, because those feelings were true. I was upset with him, for not continuing to persevere from a tragedy as Tsuki had...but he isn't Tsuki. 

"His cousin was the same way though, he approached me after her funeral and he was barely more than a child. He didn't say anything to me, but his eyes were filled with a burning hatred at first. My wife wanted to kick him off the property, but just as he was about to say something...he stopped. He stopped and gave me a look of sympathy, one I never quite understood and walked away without another word." he told me, even now his eyes seemed laced with confusion as he continued to stare at the letter. 

"This letter arrived today. It was from that boy, and I think you can understand my concern about receiving a letter from a boy who had been dead for two years now. The letter doesn't have anything that would leave a clue for me...so I think it's better in your hands. Whether you think this will have the answers, I don't know...but if I learned anything from these past two years at all. I would ask that you reconsider the context of that Kiibo Idabashi's death because he's either alive...or someone knew and sent this." he told me as he handed over the letter finally as I took it into my hands nervous.

"Where was this left?" I asked immediately looking it over, there were no stamps or any signs this was checked through any postal services. "It was left underneath my front door the day I sent the tip. I had been considering it already...but this is what set me over the edge. I don't know why this was sent to me, maybe it wasn't even intended for me." Otome admitted. "Is there anyone who could get into this neighborhood? Wasn't it locked off?" I asked immediately remembering the gate.

"Only people with access are the security guards, the landscapers, and the residents. However the security was known to take bribes, Tsuki and Ouma themselves tested that and proved it correct more often than not. So it could've been anyone, my security cameras also caught nothing. The wires were cut the day before, I see now it was in preparation" he told me. "I don't know more, nothing else happened to me or my wife," he said. I nodded as I quickly grabbed a business card from my pocket, "well if you ever need to call me or if anything else has been found you have my number. I'll update you on how this plays out, you've been some great help though" I praised him. "All I ask is that justice is served sometime in your lifetime" he requested humbly as I nodded and finally turned towards the door letter in hand.

~-~-~-~

To my best friend,

I'm sorry. I think that's all I can say, all I ever could start. I'm sorry for not writing to you. It's silly, but I wanted to for a long time. To write a letter to you, after you died. I once got down and got some paper, cleared my entire schedule on a whim but at the end of the day I just had a pile of crumpled-up papers at my desk and I don't want to admit how many pens without ink. You always had a way of making me anxious, and I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you died.

I know I'm not the best of friends, we had petty arguments over the years and I held a grudge for too long. So I decided after you died, I won't ever hold grudges again. I will always try and be kind, I will always try my best. At least that's what I told myself I was doing, but when I think of what I have done over all these years it's not exactly much.

I just missed you.

And I think Kokichi reminded me of the pain of losing you. So I decided, that to mean those words and promises, I'm going to leave you behind today. I know you are dead, I know you won't ever come back to me. So I'm going to move on, I'm going to try and be better now. So I'll see you later.

Maybe in ten years, maybe in one, maybe in a century. But I hope I'm human enough to see you again someday. 

Goodbye Tsuki (Queen of Mirrors)

Kiibo.