Himiko pushed the keys on her electronic keypad lock and activated the security system to the building. The data traveled throughout the building, so that if the signals were to ever be disrupted, the alarm would flare around the neighborhood. She cracked her neck and walked down the porch stairs and unlocked the electronic lock to her hover cycle. She pulled out onto the traffic and continued to make her way to the crime scene, stopping at the occasional stop light and intersection with stop signs. After what seemed an eternity has passed, she arrived at the building where the murder took place. The building looked like a major corporation business. She could see the reflections on the windows. She took a deep breath and walked inside. One of the many secretaries of the building guided her to the crime scene where the police were located. She nodded to the secretary and went the rest of the way herself as she could see the yellow tape used for crime scenes.

The detective in charge noticed her walking in and motioned her over to the location. Before she arrived, he was fixated on the layout of the room and the type of scenario.

She saw the detective and walked toward the scene of the homicide. She looked around the room and took in every small detail that she could. Himiko’s mind shuffled all of the possible data she collected to see if she could come up with some hints. All of this within the few moments it took her to walk from the door to the detective in charge.

Her high observation skills are amongst the best in the universe, so she would have been able to see any minor detail that has been missed by the CSI (Crime Scene Investigators). She gave a soft sigh and scratched the back of her head.

“So, what do you think happened here?” she asked as she sat down on a nearby chair and brought out her laptop. He explained the scenario as she input the room design into her computer.

“We believe this to be a locked room scenario. All the windows and the door were locked from the inside. We don’t see any other way of entry for the suspect. We know it couldn’t be suicide because of the strangulation marks left imprinted.”

She scratched her forehead and stood up. She adjusted her glasses and started walking to a specific area within the room. The detective was baffled by her actions and raised an eyebrow. He followed her until he noticed that she started walking into the bathroom.

“Locked room scenario, eh?” She stood on the toilet seat and felt around on the ceiling. She knocked around and found a hollow area. A smirk ran across her face as she went back out and brought her laptop into the restroom. She looked at the floor plans and noticed something strange. She pushed in the hollow area and discovered a hidden ventilation shaft from the old ages.

“It’s not a locked room scenario anymore, sir” She popped her head into the shaft and looked around inside. “From the lack of dust in this ventilation area, it shows it has been used recently. So the suspect most likely used this old shaft as a secret passage into the room the victim was staying in. It was a well planned murder.”

She left the passage open for further investigation and lifted the toilet seat up.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me” She gently shoved him out of the room. “I have to use the little girl’s room.” She closed the door and sat down.

A moment or two later the toilet flushed and she stepped out of the room. She sat back down on the chair.

“Well, we know how they got in, now for the rest of the case. Who, When, and Why. They’ve been strangled here in their own room, so we already have the where.”

“Ms. Himiko, that aside, how did you know about the old ventilation shaft and where it was?”

“Oh, that?” she yawned. “When I first arrived here, I noticed how old this building was, so I had a hunch that it still had old technologies hidden within its walls. My laptop confirmed my hunch when I input the floor plans of this room into my architectural program. It discovered hidden areas that weren’t visible to the eye.”

He scratched the back of his head. “I see. Thank you for your hard work.” He plopped down on a chair and wiped the sweat off his brow.

“No problem, just doing my job.” She saved all the data on her laptop and closed it up. “I’ll take care of the rest tomorrow. It’s getting really late. If I’m going to be at my best, I need my rest. Be sure to give me the address of the person who reported it in.”

He nodded. “Yes, you’ll get the information tomorrow morning. Goodnight, Ms. Himiko.”

“Good night.” She yawned and gathered up her belongings and walked out of the building. She drove back home and turned down the alarm, only to set it back on a few minutes later after changing into her pajamas.

She put the virtual headset back on and flew right back into Fantasy Hour. Hopefully she would find the girl from earlier and apologize to her. If she wasn’t mistaken, she came from the city of Torifin. She had been there before, which was lucky of her. So now all she had to do was teleport there. Hopefully she isn’t too late.

Her RL body transformed as she went into the game. Her figure and height slightly changed and her pajamas evaporated into her assassin gear. She landed in the plains where she last logged out. She used her teleportation skill to teleport herself to the city of Torifin. Unfortunately, there had been a lot of people she killed in the past there, and most of them fled when she arrived. She just shook her head and sighed, knowing she did it all to herself. One such person had the courage to stand up to her.

“What do you think you’re doing here, you bitch!? Don’t you remember that you’re not welcomed here?”

She couldn’t look the Apothecary in the eye. “I’m looking for someone…” she spoke softly. She bit her lower lip.

“Looking for another victim, eh? How typical. You just can’t stop can you? You sick whore.”

She just sighed and kept her head to the ground. “I…I’m not…”

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” he grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him. With her watered eyes, she looked at him and quickly glanced away.

“…What do you want from me?”

“You know damn well what I want. What everyone wants… We want you to stop your evil and repent for all that you did! Player Killing may well be legal, but it’s unethical! You’re just lucky we’re in town and not outside.”

“…I’ve already stopped…” she sobbed.

“Yeah right, like you expect me to believe that, you conniving fox. You’re just saying that so you can attack us from behind like before. We’re not falling for it this time, Shino.”

“No, I…”

He let his grip of her go and she fell to her knees. Onlookers started crowding around, wondering what was going on. Luckily the girl she was looking for was one of the onlookers. Again, she had a disappointed, yet concerned look on her face.

“If you really did stop, then you’ll let everyone here get their retribution against you, especially those weaker than you!”

Shino did nothing but nod in agreement. She stood up and softly spoke. “Go ahead…”

He was stunned at where these events were turning. Maybe she really did stop her antics, but there was no real way to know for sure. “Then let’s go outside. If you’re really willing to that is.”

She looked to the ground and just walked outside the town. The Apothecary and the onlookers followed outside. The axe girl from earlier stayed behind mostly because she was confused by Shino’s current actions. Did she affect her that much just by not giving her the satisfaction of killing someone again? What was different about her than any other person? She did not understand and followed just to be sure.

Outside, Shino was clubbed by the Apothecary and she just stood there taking the repeated attacks from everyone she’s ever killed. If this made them feel better, then so be it. When Shino died, she just spawned right back in town and walked back outside for more beatings.

After a while it was getting hard to watch the different ways she was getting killed. The onlookers started sliming down and doing other things. The girl was the only one that remained. Even those that kept attacking dwindled down to two people: The Apothecary and a Spiritualist. The two that remained attacking her began growing weary. It must have gone on for a good ten minutes or so.

Shino just took a deep breath. “…Are you satisfied now?”

The Spiritualist never spoke, just shook her head slightly and put a small gap between her thumb and index finger. “A little bit.”

The Apothecary however, was more than satisfied. He also felt somewhat ashamed for how low he became just to get revenge. And after seeing Shino’s feelings, he sighed.

“Look. I’m sorry for being a bastard, but I hope you don’t go back on your word. If you do, I won’t ever forgive you. And just to make sure you don’t, I’ll be hanging around you more often. Isn’t that right, Tokino?”

The Spiritualist nodded while smiling. She placed a hand on Shino’s shoulder and wrote with a special pen that wrote in the air what she wanted to say.

We’ll be counting on you to behave yourself now. If you ever double cross anyone again, you will be punished by us, okay?

Shino sighed and fell to her knees again. It seems after all the mayhem in the town she gained two new ‘friends’, if they were to be called that.