bustedchicken

[bustedchicken]

Tales from the Grapevine: Murder on the Court - Chapter 2

­­June 18th, 1994, Fukuoka City, Kyushu, Japan

Fifth match of the Open, Furiko Omori versus Tameda Hiroshi, first game of the second day.

While the crowds attention was focused on the match that was just starting, the president’s box was abuzz with whispers, questions about Kannagi’s whereabouts fuelling the tension. No one had seen him since he had booked into one of the practice courts the previous night.

Tameda bounced the ball on the court, sweat already building under his yellow headband, he looked towards his opponent, Furiko’s thick brows narrowing. Tameda threw the ball into the air, winding his arm back, swinging the racket forward and-

AAAAAAHH!

A scream ripped through the stadium, Tameda’s racket hitting nothing but air and the ball falling limply to the ground.

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Tokoyami Fumikage, head of the Takami Airlines president’s personal security, stared down at the cold body of Kannagi Enma, blood pooled around his head and staining both his headband and the ground of the practice court he was found on.

The stench of the dried blood hit Tokoyami’s hooked nose, causing him to involuntarily sniff. He kneeled down, his eyes focusing on the details; Kannagi dead, dried blood, stained headband, hair matted under where the headband rested.

Tokoyami leaned in closer, taking out a pen, he carefully lifted the headband and found what he was looking for. A wound on forehead, just below the hairline, just large enough to cause Kannagi to bleed out.

He looked around; tennis balls scattered on the other side of the net, a machine for launching the balls that was turned off before he arrived, a tennis ball trailing blood that was laying two feet away from Kannagi, a small man with purple hair looking down at the body.

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Like most of the crowd, Mineta followed the scream to the back of stadium, finding one of the stadium employees frozen in shock, staring down at Kannagi’s body.

Mineta made his way into the practice court, through the crowd that had gathered, and flashed his badge to security officers that were trying to usher people away. He approached Kannagi’s body and found a man with hooked nose and bird-like eyes poking at Kannagi’s headband with a pen.

‘Find anything?’ Mineta asked, the bird-eyed man had been scanning the area when his eyes landed on Mineta, ‘Perhaps?’ the man responded. Mineta held up his badge and extended his hand, ‘Musutafu PD, Mineta’, the bird-eyed man shook his hand with the one not holding the pen, ‘Tokoyami, president Takami’s personal security’.

Mineta crouched down, he narrowed his eyes on the part of the headband Tokoyami had lifted up, ‘May I?’ he asked, indicating to the pen, Tokoyami nodded and passed him the pen. Mineta leaned closer and lifted the headband up higher, the wound was bloody, but he could still make out little fibres sticking to the blood.

‘A single blow to the head, just below the hairline’, Tokoyami nodded in confirmation, Mineta turned his head and glanced at the ball, noticing the trail of blood, he looked around and saw the machine on the other side of the net, along with the numerous other balls.

Mineta stood up and walked over to the machine, it had a small button to turn it on and a dial to control the speed of the balls, he took out a small handkerchief and use it to press the on button.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

The machine shaked from how fast it was trying to spit out balls from an empty container, Mineta pressed the button again and it shuddered to sleep again.

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 Mineta stood at the gate to practice court as Kannagi’s body was wheeled away, ‘should get a call when the autopsy’s finished’ he said, turning to look down the pathway between the rows of other courts, ‘we won’t know the time of death until then, but…’ he turned back to the court where the body was found, ‘it had to have happened after eight pm’

‘how do you figure?’ Tokoyami asked, Mineta pointed to a clipboard hanging on fence beside the gate, ’Sign in sheet’ he stated, ‘each of the practice courts have them’, he indicated down the pathway. ‘Kannagi had himself booked in at eight pm’

Mineta walked past the different gates, reading the last names of the sheets to himself; Tsubasa 18:04 – 19:01, Saito 18:45 – 19:17, Bushijima 17:52 – 18:36, Namimaru & Samazu 19:58 – 21:49, he stopped in his tracks. Mineta grabbed the page from the clipboard hanging on the fence and folded it before putting it in his pocket. ‘Found something?’ Tokoyami asked, his eyes narrowing on the paper Mineta had grabbed, ‘Somethings’, Mineta corrected, ‘Someone, two someone’s. Two people who might’ve been the last to see Kannagi alive’

Mineta started to walk back towards the main building, but not before stopping again, outside the court just beside Kannagi’s. Something caught his eye, a lack of something. The clipboard for the signup sheet was still there but the page was mostly missing, leaving only the top portion with just barely any information left on it, aside from the start of the sign-in time, 20:1X.

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Ring!Ring! Ring!Ring! click

‘Hello, Takami Stadium, front desk speaking’ the receptionist greeted over the phone, ‘Hi, it’s officer Iwako, Detective Mineta told me to call this number after I got the statement from the two middle schoolers’. Iwako, an average man with curly brown hair, was an officer for the Fukuoka Police, he had been on scene when Mineta was given jurisdiction of the case. Iwako was sent to find Namimaru and Samazu, the two who had been there on the night of Kannagi’s demise, they had ended up being students at Naruhata middle school who had came to Fukuoka for the Open.

The line went silent for a couple minutes before Mineta’s voice came over the line, ‘What d’you find out?’ he asked. Iwako fumble with the notes he had written down, ‘The two were there when Kannagi went into the practice court, one of them mentioned the Machine he had with him was a bit distracting, but they dealt with it’, he flipped through the pages of his notepad, ‘they said Kannagi was still there when they left, but they thought he had finished not ling after him, because they were still able to hear the machine in the changing room and they could tell when it was turned off’, Iwako closed his notes and waited for any questions Mineta might have.

‘Did the machine rattle?’ Mineta asked, ‘pardon?’, ‘The machine, the tennis machine. Did they hear the machine rattle or was it just the balls being launched that made the noise?’ he pushed. ‘They didn’t mention anything about rattling. Just that the machine was loud and made a uniform sound. A consistent thunk thunk thunk’ Iwako replied, mimicking the sound by knocking his hand against the wall. Even over the phone, Mineta could tell the machine was nowhere near as powerful as it was when he had found it earlier.

[bustedchicken]

Tales from the Grapevine: Murder on the Court - Chapter 1

June 17th, 1994, Fukuoka City, Kyushu, Japan

The local Spring Open, a yearly tennis tournament sponsored by Takami Airlines and personally overseen by its current president. Takami Keigo opens its court to amateurs young and old. Headlining the Open in an exhibition match are two professionals: Wizard of the court, Kannagi Enma, and Slidin’, Tokoname Tastuyuki.

9am sharp and the metal gates swung open, being flooded by a stream of people, tickets and yen swapping hands as quickly as those running the booths could handle. People piled into their seats as the announcers voice crackled over the speaker, introducing the competition and setting President Takami up for a speech, one that ended up being as short and sweet as those he’s known for making.

The speakers blasted the announcers voice once more, welcoming Kannagi, in an orange polo shirt and striped headband, and Tokoname, in matching purple shirt and shorts, to the court.

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‘Fifteen love’ the umpire shouted of the cheering crowd, his arm signalling towards Kannagi, who waved to the crowd before wiping his brow with the back of his hand. Tokoname tightened his grip around his racket before throwing the ball in the air and slamming it towards the other side of the court, the ball bounces and in an instant Kannagi returns it with a smooth backhand.

The crowds attention is dragged back and forth as the ball shoots though the air between the opponents, kicking up grass between hits and cracking the air when the rackets make contact.

‘Match point, Kannagi’ the umpire announces to the crowd, Tokoname stares down his opponent as he bounces the ball, sweat blurring his vision for just a second.

Kannagi and Tokoname’s history doesn’t date back long, but Tokoname knows his opponent well enough to have his routine and moves memorised. He knows when Kannagi practices, he knows how many opponents he’s beaten, Tokoname had watched enough of Kannagi’s matches to know he gets a twinge in his wrist when serving backhand.

He’s watched, he’s studied, he’s practiced, and all of it came down to this match, this moment. Last game, Forty-five to Thirty, if he could just hit this right the Tokoname would be able to pull his opponent into a deuce.

Tokoname stares down his opponent as he bounces the ball, sweat blurring his vision for just a second, he throws it into the air and…

‘Kannagi wins’ the umpire shouts as the crowd erupts in cheers and applause.

It happened faster than Tokoname could react, the ball was in the air, it bounced on Kannagi’s side of the net, and was returned before he could even blink.

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Kannagi’s whole body still ached as he collapsed into his seat in the president’s box, now changed into casual wear as he listened to the announcer draw lots and read out the names of the first two competitors for the actual open.

He turned to his right and extended his hand towards Tokoname who was already sitting when he had arrived, Kannagi hadn’t got to congratulate him on a game well played as Tokoname had simply walked off the court as soon as the game was over and had left the changing room before Kannagi was even out the shower.

Tokoname turned his head towards Kannagi and grabbed his hand, shaking it with a barely restrained grip and showing an almost imperceptible fake smile before turning back towards the announcer.

Kannagi let himself slump in his seat before checking his watch, the hands read it was almost eleven, matches would be announced before an hour was given for refreshments, with the first game of the actual Open starting at noon.

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Mineta Minoru, detective for the Musutafu Police department, scratched the hairs on his chin that could barely be considered a beard, his eyes scanning the different options the catering for the Open offered, grabbing a varied selection he sat down with his tray at one of the tables set up in the courtyard of the stadium the Open was held at.

As he started digging into his meal, Mineta’s eyes began to wander between the tables, while not being unhappy with the exhibition match, he was slightly disappointed that no ladies were chosen, he had looked forward to seeing someone like Hasaki Kiruka play.

Mostly lost in his fantasies, Mineta almost missed when Kannagi passed by his table, himself on his way to get food, empty tray in hand. ‘Kannagi’ Mineta shouted over to him, Kannagi’s head turning to see Mineta waving, he waved back before grabbing his own food and joining Mineta at his table.

While not knowing each other well, Mineta and Kannagi had met when Kannagi was the victim of a stolen bike, a case investigated by Mineta’s colleague, Yoayorozu Momo. The two had a brief interaction, but Mineta was glad Kannagi had remembered him all these months later, though if he was being honest with himself, having purple hair did make him stand out in a crowd.

Kannagi sat down at the table, and they chatted, Mineta asked him about his career and his matches, even asking Kannagi about his stolen bike. They talked until the announce called for the first official match to begin.

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Tokoname swung his arm forward, putting the force of his whole body into launching the ball over the net. His felt chest rise and fall as the muscles in his arms gave out, Tokoname breathed heavily as he stared at the scattered balls, he had practiced his serve with.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

A practice court over, Kannagi rehearsed his return. One of the stadiums machines shooting balls towards him, and Kannagi sending them back in quick succession.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

The sound hit Tokoname’s ears, drowning out the world around him, hammering against his head.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

Tokoname threw the last ball he had in the air, his whole upper body twisting to the point of straining. Before sharply snapping forward, his arm driving straight towards the ball and…

[bustedchicken]

Tales from the Grapevine: A Columbo inspired Mineta AU

A Detective Mineta AU based on works such as Columbo and Murder, She wrote.

Follows Detective Mineta from the Musutafu Police Department, who solves murders throughout the city, and on occasion country.

Other roles in the stories are filled out by the greater cast of MHA.

The AU is set in the 1990s, for some reason, it just happened when I was writing.

More information to follow

[bustedchicken]

Part 1 of if Class 1-A was the Crew of a Starfleet Starship

Momo Yaoyorozu, Cadassian Captain of the USS Heroic