Other Fan Fiction ❯ A Push in the Right Direction ❯ Chapter 8
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: MikariStar 
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Mystery / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 7 | Words: 9.6K | Visits: 319 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Mystery / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 7 | Words: 9.6K | Visits: 319 | Status: Completed
A Push in the Right Direction: Case VIII
Mystery 44: Cars
Yako sighed, she had no idea her car was really that expensive. She thought the model looked unfamiliar because it was a bargain; she didn't want her mom or anyone spending too much on her. "Mom mentioned Yukari helped her pick the car," she was on the back seat along with Neuro, while Godai drove. "Yukari must have tricked her into thinking that her budget covered the cost of the car and paid for the rest herself. It's funny how she claims she learned to disregard material possessions, but for her it means not knowing the value of anything and thinking living in luxury is natural and not special at all. You won't believe how many jewels she stuffed in my luggage in secret and I didn't notice until I was in Japan, then when I called her about it, she told me they were just pretty stones and I should treat them as nothing more; it's frustrating."
"I would love to be frustrated like that," Godai commented; his foot had not left the gas pedal since they started the trip.
"What am I supposed to give my mom and Yukari, I'm broke," Yako pouted.
"You're broke because you spend all your money on food, but don't worry, your generous master will help you. As a present for your cousin, I'll exterminate her feather duster problem for good, he just barely got away from me last time," Neuro suggested.
"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks," Yako's eyes locked on Neuro's and she blushed deeply. She didn't even hear Godai's out of character speech about how her happiness was enough of a reward for her mother and cousin. "Neuro, did you do something just now?"
"This car has quite the arsenal of spells on it. There is a protective spell to prevent damage or robbery, a speed spell on the engine, a super reflex spell that takes effect on anyone in the driver's seat and the back seat has a charm that amplifies lust. I take it the feather duster set them up," Neuro theorized.
"Oh no, Yukari must have insisted on that last one and come up with some twisted explanation about why it's for our own good. What was she thinking?" Yako felt her heart pounding.
"You're the one who understands how people think, worm," Neuro pointed out.
Yako nodded, remembering her role, "she was hoping we would take the car someplace far away and... well, you know." Then she mentally kicked herself for reciting the analysis when she should have kept quiet about it.
"Don't forget I'm right here!" Godai felt the need to remind.
"By the way slave number two, we are heading for the race tracks, not the other side of Japan," Neuro pointed out. Yako then noticed the world out the window was a blur of speed she didn't even feel, this was one very special car indeed.
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At the race tracks management office, Yako and Neuro met with the client, while Godai insisted on waiting in the car, wanting to enjoy sitting in it for a while longer. Yako and Neuro both knew he would take it out for a drive, but he didn't care and she wasn't really bothered by it.
They met the client who introduced them to the manager of the race tracks. "It's a relief to have detective Katsuragi on the case, I'm sure that the culprit will finally be discovered now."
"I'll try my best, please tell us about what's been happening; are there any details that stand out?" Yako inquired.
"Yes, all the cars that were involved in the accidents were using generic parts. There was a rumor that they were unsafe and only genuine parts should be used in cars. But this has only started happening recently and with an alarming frequency so it can't be a coincidence," the manager explained. "I'm sure there has to be some kind of sabotage involved, but I don't know how it could have been done. The cars were checked before the races and guarded to make sure no one tampered with them. Even so, all the cars with generic parts failed and went out of control in the race. There have even been a few fatal casualties, though most of the racers managed to survive the accidents, but with serious injuries. They said that the steering stopped responding and when they tried to stop, the breaks didn't work either. I have the files with the details of all the races with accidents here," the manager took a folder from his desk. "It's all there, since the day the accidents started happening," he handed the folder to Yako.
Yako opened the folder and looked over the files inside, not sure what exactly she was searching for. Neuro asked the next question. "Did anything unusual happen close to the date when the accidents began?"
"It was a tragedy," the manager replied, "one of our mechanics died a few days earlier. He was soon replaced by a new one and as you can imagine, he was the first suspect for the sabotages. I suspended him, but the accidents didn't stop. I thought maybe another mechanic was trying to frame him, so I suspended each of them one by one in my own little investigation, but the accidents continued. All the mechanics have come back to work since then. The drivers have good knowledge about cars, so not only the mechanics checked them, the racers did too. It wouldn't make sense to risk one's own safety, so I'm sure they were careful while checking the cars and guarding them from the other competitors. Even so, the accidents kept on happening."
"Then you're saying that though the cars were apparently in perfect conditions, they still failed during the race and this happened only with the cars using generic parts," Neuro reviewed.
"Yes," the manager confirmed, "some of the other cars got caught in the accidents, but they were not the cause and drivers didn't report any malfunctions."
"What about Ryuusei Ikioi?" Yako suddenly asked, "according to these records, his car was modified with generic parts, but didn't malfunction in his first race, it did malfunction later though..."
"Was there anything different about that race?" Neuro elaborated.
"Ryuusei's first race, I remember, he was a late entry, we thought he wouldn't show up, he even missed having his picture taken. He drove straight to the starting line as soon as he arrived. His car wasn't even checked before the race," the manager revealed.
"Then the culprit didn't have time to sabotage his car," Yako concluded.
"But who can sabotage cars so quickly and without being seen, even if the cars were checked over and over, and closely guarded the entire time? Everyone here was cleared of suspicion, how could the culprit slip through? I'm not going to deny that the crime must have happened somewhere in this racing facility, everything points to that, but how? It seems impossible to accomplish," the manager mused.
"Sensei needs some time to think about the case, she wishes to have a look around," Neuro spoke.
"Very well, I must go get things ready for today's race, I entrust the future of this race track and the safety of our racers to you," the manager agreed.
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Neuro and Yako made their way to the garage where the racers and mechanics were getting ready. They received suspicious looks and warning glares. "There are a lot of people here, but each team seems to be guarding their car closely," Yako commented.
Neuro grinned with anticipation, "this mystery is on the tip of my tongue..."
Two familiar men approached, "why are you two here?" Sasazuka inquired.
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Mystery 45: Training
Sasazuka and Ishigaki had arrived to investigate the race tracks and were surprised to find that Yako and Neuro were there as well. "We were hired to investigate the accidents," Yako explained.
"That's why we're here too, there have been too many and this place will have to shut down if this doesn't stop," Sasazuka revealed.
"I really hope everything can be solved, this place is cool and they sell really nice souvenirs!" Ishigaki showed off his new toy car, which Sasazuka snatched away and crushed beneath his foot, much to Ishigaki's agony.
"We'll proceed with our investigation," Sasazuka dragged the crying Ishigaki away.
"Just like old times, isn't it Neuro?" Yako smiled fondly.
"Old times?" Neuro commented.
"It's a new part of my life and I think there have been many changes, but there are also things that stayed the same," Yako concluded.
Neuro squeezed Yako's head, rubbing his knuckles against her temples. "Let's see if that tiny brain of yours has finally grown from one cell to two. What should we investigate next?"
"Should we take a closer look at the cars?" Yako suggested, though she knew it wouldn't be easy. The racing teams were very protective of the cars and they had their reasons to be, with all the sabotage going around.
"Wrong! Try again," Neuro squeezed Yako's head tighter.
"Ow... we should investigate the race track!" Maybe the problem was in the race track itself. That would explain why cars that were confirmed to be in perfect condition before the race suddenly malfunctioned, maybe something in the race track caused it. But that wouldn't explain how that one racer escaped being in an accident because he was late to his first race.
"Really slave, where has your evolution gone? Or was that just temporary enlightenment? You haven't evolved at all, how disappointing..." Neuro squeezed Yako's head even tighter.
'Think Yako, think... What detail stands out, what saved Ryuusei that one time?' Yako tried to remember all that the manager said and what appeared on the files. "We should investigate the camera," it sounded silly, but it was the only difference Yako could come up with. The racer who was late and avoided being in an accident on that one race didn't get his picture taken.
"It took you long enough to think of that," Neuro finally let go of Yako's head.
"But what could the camera do?" Yako thought aloud.
"When something goes wrong, humans try to find faults in the machinery involved, even if it is proven to be in working conditions. More often than not, it's actually a human malfunction," Neuro explained.
Yako grinned in amusement, "well done Neuro, you were able to understand a little more about humans, you've evolved!"
"Very funny slave, don't forget I still owe you a punishment," Neuro put Yako in a headlock and dragged her off towards a camera that sat outside on a tripod, unattended, the wall behind it was painted with bright colors, displaying the logo of the race track.
Neuro released Yako and began to examine the camera just on time for Sasazuka and Ishigaki to return. "Did you find something suspicious there?" Sasazuka inquired.
"Sensei thinks there's something odd about this camera," Neuro innocently replied.
"Let me see," Ishigaki looked through it, "it looks fine to me, everything is in focus."
Sasazuka wasn't sure how a camera could be related to the accidents, but when Yako and Neuro showed up, things became strange, so maybe this really was some sort of clue. "We'll just take this camera and examine it in more detail," Sasazuka took the camera and walked away, followed by Ishigaki.
"Sorry about that, he took away your clue," Ishigaki apologized, then he ran to catch up with Sasazuka.
As Yako watched Sasazuka and Ishigaki leave, she came to a new conclusion, which she announced when they were out of hearing distance. "There was nothing wrong with the camera; you just wanted to keep them busy."
"Keep on evolving top slug," Neuro confirmed the truthfulness of her theory in his own way. "Do you know what we should do next?" Neuro pinched Yako's cheeks and pulled them.
"Ouch, interview Ryuusei?" Yako asked unsure.
Neuro let her go, "correct, let's gather more clues."
"But you said this mystery was on the tip of your tongue," Yako reminded.
"I know the answer, but you still don't, your tiny under-evolved brain needs a lot more clues than mine. I've been making this too easy for you in the past, it's about time you did more than act as a simple cover up; I expect you to work harder than that, this is an order from your master," Neuro didn't expect Yako to be smiling like that. "What is going through that empty head of yours? I mean aside from thoughts of food."
"I'm happy because you're letting me participate more in the process of solving a mystery. It's like you're really training me now, or as you say, helping me evolve. I'll solve this mystery!" Yako was filled with determination.
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After asking around, Yako managed to get Ryuusei's phone number. He would have a full recovery soon, but he needed to rest and would not race for a while. After explaining who she was and the purpose of the call, Yako listened to Ryuusei's narration of what happened that day when he was late.
"I wasn't sure if they would let me race at all. I just drove over to the tracks and took my place at the starting line. The owner was right there on the side lines, next to the start, he just nodded at me as if saying it was okay. The announcer introduced everyone and the race started. Everything was normal until some cars behind me started going out of control and crashing, except I was focusing on going forward and didn't notice at first. It was a disaster zone and no one could get by for another lap so we just cancelled the race. I was lucky my breaks are good, or I would have crashed right into the wreckage when I went for another lap."
"Was there anything else that was different, any details would be helpful, no matter how insignificant and unrelated they may sound," Yako requested more information, hoping to find some sort of clue.
"Well, I was late so I didn't get my picture taken and I raced with my own helmet," Ryuusei revealed.
Yako caught the clue and inquired about it further, "please tell me about the helmets!" She was on to something, she could feel it.
"The helmets we wear are provided by the race track, we can wear whatever logos we want on our clothes or printed on the cars, but we need to wear the race track's helmets. They have radio transmitters to alert us of danger if needed and to allow us to request help if we think something may be wrong. I would have stopped sooner if I had known the track was blocked by the other cars and I wouldn't be able to continue another lap, I really burned out my tires with that stop. I'm sorry I can't be very helpful, detective."
"You've been very helpful, thank you," Yako assured. After the call was done, she looked at Neuro and revealed her new theory, "it's the helmets."
"Finally, if I waited for you to solve mysteries on your own every time, I would starve to death," Neuro confirmed the truthfulness of the theory. "This is something you should have suspected from the start."
"How so?" Yako couldn't begin to understand how she was supposed to make such a leap right from the beginning.
"You're so focused on one point; you fail to notice the surroundings. Mysteries are formed by a lot of details that need to be united and fitted together like pieces of a puzzle, that's what a mystery is. Once you know what the picture in the puzzle looks like, instead of doubting it, you should start searching for the pieces. Sometimes you have different pictures in mind, different suspects and possibilities, start looking for the pieces anyway and with each one you find, the possibilities will be narrowed," Neuro explained.
"That was deep..." Yako thought about it, the first part specially caught her attention. "Let's go back to the manager's office."
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On the way back to the manager's office Neuro tripped Yako; she got to her feet as quickly as possible and looked at Neuro with annoyance, "I thought you would be nicer to me."
"I haven't killed you even if you're troublesome and stupid, that's nice," Neuro replied.
"That's not nice enough, I thought you would show me you care, I thought-" Yako's complaints were cut short when Neuro pushed her into the remains of a car, which was clearly not going to function ever again. Her upper body fell on the soft driver's seat, her head missing the lever in the middle, something that she was thankful for, and her legs remained out of the car. "Neuro, what are you-" Yako had began to get up, but Neuro pushed her down again, pinning her to the seat.
He was on top of her, and he was close, very close. "Isn't this what you wanted?"
Yako blushed scarlet, "stop it, get off, people will see us." She struggled to no avail, despite summoning all her strength. Suddenly, she was able to turn the situation around and roll on top of Neuro. He was taller and being pushed to the bottom he hit his head on the lever between the seats.
"What are they doing?"
"Shh, be quiet and watch!"
Yako froze upon hearing the voices. She attempted to get out of the car, but her legs had become tangled with Neuro's when he let her push him down, he must have heard those people coming. The result was Yako losing her balance and falling on Neuro, pushing him down again, to hit his head with the lever a second time. When she finally got herself untangled, Yako hurried out of the car, the two curious observers jumping out of her way, while whispering about how rough the detective was.
Neuro got out of the car as well, "wait for me, sensei," he followed after Yako, rubbing his head just for show.
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Mystery 46: Meal Time
At the race track manager's office, Yako took a moment to observe the atmosphere. She noticed the pictures hanging on the walls. The racers were all wearing different colors, but held matching helmets. That was unusual; their helmets matched the race track logo instead of their clothes and cars. Neuro must have noticed that right away.
Then, when Neuro saw how well guarded the cars were, he concluded that the cars were not the cause of the accidents. If it was a malfunction in the driver, the helmets would be suspicious of causing it.
When Yako thought of a malfunction, she didn't think of humans. Sure they made plenty of mistakes, but these had not been mistakes, they had too much in common, it was all too well arranged to be a mere coincidental mistake.
"Detective Katsuragi?" The manager's voice woke Yako from her thoughts. "Have you come up with a lead in your investigation?"
"Not yet," Yako lied, if the manager was the culprit, she didn't want him to become defensive, though somehow he didn't seem the type, even if he was the prime suspect according to her findings so far. "I've learned a lot about your race track, it looks like everything is well organized and you have been really taking safety into consideration, I even heard about the helmets with the radio transmitters. Don't worry; I'll solve this mystery somehow."
"Thank you detective. I hope this can be solved soon or I'll be forced to close down the race track and that criminal will be left unpunished," the manager was visibly stressed.
"You do have insurance, don't you?" Neuro curiously asked; his tone filled with fake innocence.
"Of course I do, but it's not nearly enough to pay for everything," the manager sighed. "I can show you the documents if that would help in any way."
Yako found the topic of the insurance to be suspicious, but she decided to trust her instincts and not jump to conclusions. "Do you have recordings of the transmissions from the helmets?"
"Yes, the drivers sound desperate, saying the car isn't responding. You may listen to them if you wish," the manager offered.
Yako didn't have Neuro's deductive powers, but she had her own perceptive abilities. The manager agreed to allow her to hear those recordings too easily. Then she thought of something else, "I didn't know such technology existed, too bad it only recorded tragedy. Who made those helmets anyway?" She disguised her investigation behind innocent curiosity.
Once again, the manager answered quickly, "it was the new mechanic, he wanted to contribute to the safety of the racers. It was unfortunate that the accidents started soon after."
It was all too suspicious; the new mechanic's timing was impeccable, but the manager had closed his mind to the possibility of there being a problem with the helmets; because he was convinced the problem was sabotage. He had all the pieces to the puzzle but the picture he imagined wasn't right and he refused to let it go. He had the proof but didn't know it and couldn't make an accusation until the evidence was recognized. "Can I see one of the helmets?"
"Sure," the manager walked over to a storage closet, "I have some spares right here."
Yako examined the helmet that was handed to her; it was numbered and had the logo of the race track. "This is it..." she looked at Neuro who nodded. Using technology to hypnotize was something that had been done before in a different way. In an isolated helmet, it would be even easier to flood the brain with electromagnetic waves. It was a command sent to those targeted by the culprit.
"Sensei is ready to announce who the culprit is," Neuro spoke, "all the race track workers and racing teams must gather at the starting line and sensei will point out the culprit."
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Everyone gathered as requested, just as Godai came back from his drive. He parked Yako's car and curiously went to see what was going on. Yako had asked the manager before they left the office earlier about the identity of that new mechanic, and he had even shown her a picture on his employee file. However, the manager still had no idea how there could be evidence against him.
Yako stepped forward; she didn't feel Neuro's energy around her. He wasn't going to point out the culprit in her name this time; she had to make the announcement on her own. "The culprit is..."
"You!" Godai suddenly yelled, pointing at one of the racers.
"Assistant number two," Neuro scolded, "I know sensei has already told both of us what her conclusions are, but it's her duty and her right to make the announcement. Please don't overstep your authority next time, I'm saying this for your own safety, I'm afraid sensei will punish you harshly if you don't behave."
Everything spiraled into chaos from there. The culprit, whom Godai had correctly pointed out, went over the edge, turning into a car monster. The criminal car drove away and Neuro snatched the keys from Godai and threw Yako into the driver's seat of her car, hopping on the roof and commanding, "after him!"
Confused beyond words, Yako did as she was told and chased the rampaging mutant car around the race track, "I always win, you can't catch me! My genuine car is the best, yours is just a cheap imitation!" The culprit yelled, not realizing that Yako's car was in fact genuine and far more expensive than anything he ever drove.
"You won't get away!" Yako stomped on the gas, her car jumping forward; she was driving right next to the culprit.
The smoke of hot tires and fuel exhaust shielded Neuro, "itadakimasu!" He devoured the mystery.
When the smoke cleared, Sasazuka and Ishigaki rushed over to arrest the criminal, who kept muttering incoherently while shaking in fear. "Glowing green eyes! How did the little monster get so big?"
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When it was all said, done, explained and clarified, Neuro, Yako and Godai headed back to the detective office. "It seems slave number two has somehow surpassed the evolution of slave number one," Neuro observed.
"I can't believe I had it wrong. I thought for sure it was the new mechanic," Yako was very disappointed in herself. "Neuro, you were going to let me point out the wrong culprit weren't you? I can picture it, you would jump out and say 'sensei is only kidding, she needs more time to finish her investigation' or something like that."
"Congratulations, you were able to predict what I was going to do, even if it was too late," Neuro mocked sarcastically. "You missed a very important detail," he continued more seriously, "the racers didn't take the helmets with them, those stayed at the race track facilities so different racers ended up using them during each race. Everyone seems to be aware of what kind of car each racer drives, but if the new mechanic was suspended, how would he know which racer ended up with what helmet number if the helmets are handed out on the same day as the race?"
"He wouldn't know; the culprit had to be there on each day," Yako realized.
"According to the documents provided by the manager during the very beginning of our investigation, there was a racer who fit the description. He drove a car with no generic parts, he was present on each of the races and though he was in some accidents himself, he was never the cause and they were all minor; it was a cover up. He must have snuck into the control room and activated the proper helmet numbers after he saw who got which helmet. All the racers are holding their helmets in the picture taken before the race, which gave him a chance to find out who got what number. The culprit was the only one present in the facilities on each day when accidents happened, other than the manager who was losing money because of the property damage and canceled races," Neuro explained.
"If only I had spoken to my suspect before going off to accuse him, maybe I would have noticed it wasn't him and searched for more information. That racer tampered with the helmets and framed him," Yako was feeling frustrated with herself.
"Your strength is to read people, you're not anywhere near as perceptive as I am and your memory isn't as clear when it comes to details. I did try to help you by reminding you that you need more clues than I do," Neuro pointed out.
Yako sighed, "don't rub it in. I failed, but next time for sure I'll solve the mystery! One thing still puzzles me, how in the world did Godai figure it out if he wasn't even there during the investigation?"
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Mystery 47: Love Sick
Godai had been rather quiet the entire time, while he, Yako and Neuro discussed the recently resolved race track case back at the detective office. Now Yako had asked the question that was driving her insane, how did Godai point out the correct culprit when she could not? He wasn't even there during the investigation. "The truth is I didn't even know what was going on, I just pointed at that guy because I recognized him from a murder I witnessed," Godai admitted.
Yako's jaw dropped, "when did that happen? You should have said something before!"
"I don't want to get involved with the police, it'll be too close for comfort if they make me witness," Godai explained. "It happened when Kaiyo was still here; I told you about it before, remember? I had gone to pick up my car from the mechanic. He dealt in generic parts; I guess that's what ticked off that car obsessed guy. I arrived just as the murder was committed, but I didn't realize what was going on until that guy pointed a gun at me for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kaiyo took a bite off his gun and spat it out like chewed bubble gum and that scared him away."
"I remember when you told me about that, there was so much going on at the time I couldn't think about it too much. The mechanic that the manager mentioned had died must have been that same one. How did I miss the connection, the timing was the same, I should have known," Yako frowned, she was really looking forward to solving this case.
"That's what the culprit was muttering about; he thought I was Kaiyo somehow grown up in such a short time," Neuro concluded. "Even after this, I'm still hungry, go out and find more food for me slaves, I'll be here sleeping, wake me up when you find a juicy mystery." Yako looked at Neuro with worry; he was sleeping a lot lately.
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The days passed and the mysteries came and went. Neuro had been steadily consuming mysteries now that Yako was a full time detective, but he still looked tired and it worried Yako terribly. She woke up one morning because the temperature felt awfully hot, and she found that Neuro was curled up next to her, shivering as if he was freezing under a mountain of blankets.
Yako slipped out of bed and wondered what she should do, if he didn't even bother hiding this state from her, it must have been pretty bad. Then she saw a pair of green eyes open, glowing alarmingly dim. "Neuro, what's wrong with you? Please tell me how I can help."
"Find me a mystery, I'm hungry," Neuro replied, his voice sounding sleepy.
"This is more than just hunger, you're sick," Yako's mind was racing; then suddenly it came to an abrupt stop upon a theory. "Wait a minute, are you just pretending to be sick so I'll get worried and you can get back at me?"
"You caught me, I am pretending; now find me some food, that's an order from your master, hurry up!" Neuro insisted.
"No, if you were pretending you wouldn't admit it so easily. You really are sick! Unless you thought that I would think that... Anyway, I'm not taking any chances," determined, Yako left the room. Neuro wondered what she meant, but didn't give it too much thought and went back to sleep.
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Neuro woke up with a sneeze, his vision focused on the cause of his allergies, which was leaning over him, "yes, it's definitely love, Neuro is love sick. His kind cannot come to terms with such an emotion easily, so this happened."
"Oh no!" Yako gasped, "I made Neuro sick, poor Neuro..."
"Don't worry, he'll get over it," Angelus assured, "although before that happens, he'll have to admit his feelings. If he cannot do so in this form, he might go back to the way he was before."
Neuro continued sneezing, eyes glowing with anger, though still relatively dim, as he grabbed Angelus by the ear, pulled him along and shoved him out the window, closing it and returning to bed. "I order you to stop associating with such filth." Then he promptly fell asleep.
Yako watched him with curiosity, 'back to the way he was before?' she thought, 'does that mean he won't be able to stay in his human form?'
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It was a new day; Neuro had slept through all of yesterday and last night, and he was still sleeping. Yako went to check on him, lifting the covers curiously. The figure under the mountain of blankets appeared to be smaller and in was in fact smaller. It was a purple bird about the size of a human toddler.
The purple bird looked at Yako curiously, lifted his wing and declared, "mine!"
"Neuro?" Yako was confused beyond belief.
"Good, you have learned your master's name already. You're not of my kind so I can do whatever I want with you because you're an inferior creature. I'll take you as my slave, what are you and what do you call yourself?" The little bird Neuro asked, his voice sounding suspiciously like a child's.
"I'm a human and my name is Yako," the confused girl replied.
"I don't like it, your name is now Puzzle," Neuro decided. "What is this place Puzzle, how did I get here?"
"This is my room," Yako answered, her confusion growing, what in the world was going on with Neuro? He not only turned into a bird, but he was smaller.
"Be specific," Neuro ordered.
"My room, in my apartment, in Japan, on Earth, on the surface of the Earth, this is the human world," Yako hoped that was specific enough.
"I'm in the human world? Bad human, kidnapping me like that, mommy will be mad. I bet my baby sister put you up to it, she's always trying to get rid of me because I'm better than her and she's jealous, the little brat. No matter, mommy will come get me soon enough and as punishment for your actions; you'll have to be my slave forever. Until then, I want to have a look around, I order you to give me a tour of this world."
Yako nodded slowly, "um... can you disguise yourself as a human? It will be troublesome if people start panicking, they'll get in the way," Yako hoped that was enough to convince Neuro to cooperate if he could.
The miniature Neuro nodded, transforming into a cute toddler with blond hair, dark purple-black bangs and green eyes. He wore a cute, yet somewhat silly, little sailor suit, complete with a tiny hat.
Yako concluded that going back to the way he was before didn't mean Neuro would permanently revert to his true form; it meant he would go back to being a child. He didn't seem to have memories from when he was a grown up, so how was he supposed to come to terms with his feelings to be cured and go back to normal, if such feelings didn't exist in his memories? Yako thought it might be best not to upset him by calling Angelus again and instead played along. "If anyone asks, you can tell them you're Neuro's little brother who is visiting, that is, another Neuro I know of," Yako warned before they went out.
"I'm not little!" Neuro pouted cutely. "I'll pretend to be that other Neuro's big brother."
"But you're younger than him..." Yako argued.
"What is he an old geezer?" Neuro inquired.
Yako figured she might as well go with it. "Yeah, he's a grumpy old man."
"Okay, fine, I'm his younger brother then, but I'm not little!" The tiny Neuro continued to pout. "Puzzle, I order you to carry me."
Though he was small, Yako found that the toddler version of Neuro was rather heavy despite his size. This was going to be a long day.
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Mystery 48: Sight Seeing
As Yako made her way down the street, unsure of where she should take little Neuro, he kept poking her. "Ouch, please stop that, it hurts."
"Humans are weak," Neuro concluded, though at least he stopped poking Yako in favor of instead petting her hair. "Humans are soft," he was distracted from his observations when he saw some strange creatures behind a glass window, "what's that?"
Yako approached, "this is a pet shop, do you want to go inside and look around?"
"Okay," Neuro nodded eagerly and when they went in he ordered, "put me down Puzzle," and Yako set him on the floor, following him closely. Neuro looked at some puppies; those were strange creatures to him, "what are these?"
"Those are puppies, small dogs," Yako explained.
Neuro shook his little head in disapproval, "you're stupid Puzzle, those are not dogs. Dogs have three heads and these creatures only have one." Neuro moved on to another area.
'Three heads? Is he talking about Cerberus?' Yako thought.
Neuro looked at the kittens with curiosity; he pointed and said, "cats." Then he looked a little confused, "why are there cats here, there are no spirits for them to guard, I would sense them if there were."
"Cats and do-those other creatures, are both pets, every animal in this shop is a pet," Yako tried to explain, but Neuro ignored her. It seemed that every legend was somehow connected to something Neuro had seen before.
A colorful parrot on a perch then caught Neuro's attention and he rushed over to it. "You're stupid," he told the parrot, "there's no way that disguise is going to work, you don't look anything like my kind, your beak is too small."
"Polly want a cracker!" The parrot replied, not really understanding anything Neuro told it.
"Who's Polly and what's a cracker? Puzzle, are crackers good?" Neuro looked at Yako with big shining green eyes; at least he looked healthy and energetic again.
"Yes, crackers are very good, there's a shop down the street that sells them; do you want crackers?" Yako smiled at the thought of food.
"Okay," Neuro nodded energetically and took her hand; at least it looked like he decided he wanted to walk now. They made their way out of the pet shop and down the street to the snack shop where Yako bought a bag of crackers for Neuro. "I know you like eating mysteries, but don't you want to try the crackers?"
Neuro looked at the small bag with the strange things inside it, "this isn't food," he picked up one of the fish shaped yellow things. "it's some kind of soft stone," he tossed the cracker back in the bag and held it out. "If this is food, prove it."
"Gladly," Yako took the bag of crackers and emptied it in her mouth, chewing with a crunching sound and swallowing the cheesy treats.
Little Neuro gasped in shocked horror, "you ate my crackers!" He began to cry.
Yako panicked and the shop keeper gave her a look of disproval, "another bag of crackers please!"
She quickly gave it to Neuro, who ceased his crying and hugged the snack sized bag before putting it in his pocket. "I'm keeping it as a souvenir."
Yako breathed in relief and purchased a variety of miscellaneous snacks for herself, which she ate on the way as she and Neuro walked to the park, Yako thought he might like to play there.
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By the time they reached the park, Yako had already finished eating her various snacks, "you're strange," Neuro observed, "eating such weird things. What kind of place is this? Those contraptions are so primitive."
"This is a park, you can play here," Yako was starting to have second thoughts about bringing Neuro to a park; it might not be a good idea to let him play with human children.
Neuro approached a see-saw and a human child went over to the other side, "hey kid, get on!" Neuro pouted, that human was trying to order him around. He went to the opposite side of the see-saw, but instead of riding it like he was told, he jumped on it, catapulting the human child into the air.
"No!" Yako ran to catch the unfortunate boy, arriving just on time to save him from painfully crashing into the ground. She set the frightened boy down and he fearfully ran away, crying for his mother. "Neuro, we should get out of here," Yako paused; Neuro was looking at her with pouty faced disapproval. "I mean, this place is kind of lame, I know of a better place we can visit, okay?"
"Okay," Neuro agreed, "carry me again." Without wasting any time, Yako picked up Neuro and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.
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"This is where we started from," Neuro pointed at the apartment building.
"This other place is kind of far, so instead of walking, we're going to ride on the car, it'll be a lot faster and more fun that way," Yako assured.
"Okay," thankfully, Neuro agreed easily. He sat in the passenger seat and refused to wear a seat bealt. Yako gave up on convincing him, it's not like he was in any danger anyway. "This car smells weird."
Yako couldn't perceive any strange scents in her car, unless he meant it smelled like flowery scented spray, she used it to hide the scent of food that stuck to the car since she was always eating in it and the scent that remained made her hungry again. "What do you mean?"
"It smells like someone put some spells on it, but I'm not sure what kind," Neuro explained.
"Don't worry, those are not bad spells," Yako smiled sweetly and that seemed to be enough to reassure Neuro, who amused himself by looking out the window during the rest of the trip.
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Grateful that she had not been caught by the police, Yako parked her car at the zoo and she and Neuro walked to the ticket booth. She purchased the tickets and led Neuro inside, at least he didn't seem to have a problem with holding her hand; it would be troublesome if he ran off.
Fate would have it that they should find Ishigaki at the zoo, he carried a multitude of souvenirs and appeared to be quite happy and excited to be spending his day off there. "Yako! What a coincidence that you're here too, look at all these cute things I bought! I hope Sasazuka likes the gift I got for him. Oh! Who's this with you? He looks like a little Neuro!"
Neuro pouted and stepped on Ishigaki's foot harshly, causing him to drop all his souvenirs and start hopping on the other foot, while clutching his injured foot. "I'm not little! I'm younger than the grumpy old geezer Neuro, but I'm not little! I'm his brother and my name is," he paused, it was unfortunate that another creature, an unworthy one no doubt, had the same name as him, so he decided to tell this human a different name, "my name is Sherlock, just like the comic book super hero that solves mysteries with 777 magical tools!"
Ishigaki wasn't really listening because he had lost his balance and fallen down. Now he sat there, crying over how much his foot hurt, loud enough to catch the attention of a zoo employee, who promised to return with help.
"It was an accident; please don't tell anyone what really happened!" Yako pleaded.
"Ouch my foot! Don't worry, I forgive the lit-I mean, the big darling. Wah!" Leaving Ishigaki alone before Neuro wounded him further; Yako led her adorable little terror to another part of the zoo.
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Mystery 49: A Light in the Dark
Everything appeared to be improving, Neuro would point at the zoo animals and Yako would tell him what they were. He would occasionally correct her, claiming it was some other creature, usually a mythological one, and she decided that it was best not to argue with him.
They ran into Sasazuka, who had been called over by a crying Ishigaki, who claimed he was unable to drive with his injured foot, which was declared to be broken. Hence he was stuck in the zoo until someone came to pick him up. It took many calls and plenty of crying to finally convince Sasazuka to go to the rescue and he was on his way to the zoo's infirmary when he saw Yako.
Naturally, Sasazuka was curious about the little boy who looked like Neuro, but did not make the mistake of actually calling him little. "I'm Neuro's brother, Sherlock Nogami," Neuro introduced himself to the human, whom Puzzle had identified as Sasazuka.
Yako had excused Neuro's lack of presence by saying that he was bedridden with a terrible cold, so she volunteered to spend the day with his brother. Sasazuka looked suspicious, but decided to go along with it.
"Sasazuka is a stupid name," Neuro decided, "you should be called Riddle."
"I see, very well then, Riddle it is," Sasazuka decided to humor the strange boy, which unknowingly spared him the possibility of being seriously injured. He said his goodbyes and went off in his unwilling Ishigaki rescue mission.
Yako had only taken her eyes off Neuro for a short moment saying goodbye to Sasazuka and she no longer felt his small hand in hers. She searched for him to find he had vanished. "Neuro? Neuro, where did you go?"
The ground trembled as a stampede of animals rushed over. An elephant grabbed Yako with its trunk, placing her on its back where Neuro was riding. "I let the strange creatures out to play!"
"I should have known coming here was a bad idea!" The elephant suddenly stopped upon seeing an overturned peanut cart and sat down to eat. Yako rolled off its back and fell on the ground, to be picked up by a gorilla, who carried her away.
"Puzzle!" Neuro gave chase. "Give back Puzzle, she's mine!"
The giant ape rushed up a building next to the zoo, which was still under construction. He tossed Yako aside once they reached the top and started throwing things at Neuro as he climbed up in pursuit.
"I'm coming for you Puzzle!" Neuro jumped on the gorilla's head, knocking him out on impact and hurried to hug Yako. "Don't let yourself get stolen again, don't forget you're mine forever!"
Yako's heart was pounding from all the action, "thank you for saving me," she finally managed to speak, "I think we should go someplace else now."
Neuro nodded in agreement, "okay." Yako looked down from the unfinished building; she didn't know how she was going to get down from there. Then Neuro pushed her off and jumped after her, catching her in mid air and flapping his wings wildly. He couldn't fly while carrying her, she was too heavy for such small wings, but he slowed the fall enough for Yako to be safely placed on the ground below.
Fortunately, everyone was so busy with the escaped animals, that no one noticed the mutant bird child. Yako and Neuro quickly snuck back to her car and got away from the chaos.
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The next stop was an amusement park a considerable distance away. Yako stuffed her face with treats and Neuro watched her, entertained by her black hole appetite, until he spotted a stand advertising 'kaleidoscope cotton candy'. The fluffy substance was a mix of swirling colors, which made it look like something else, "a mystery! Look puzzle, that human is using that strange machine to make mysteries! I want them!"
Yako was both surprised and amused by the comparison, was that what a mystery looked like to Neuro? Swirling colors, fluffed together, like a cloud seen through a kaleidoscope. "It's cotton candy, I'm not sure if you'll like it, but I'll get some for you."
Neuro received the cotton candy and smelled it, "it looks like a mystery, but it doesn't smell like one." He tried eating it and was disappointed. "This isn't a mystery, this is more human food. Here Puzzle, you can eat this," Neuro gave the cotton candy back to Yako and ran off, with her chasing after him while eating.
Neuro looked at the merry-go-round curiously and Yako asked, "do you want to ride it?"
Unexpectedly, Neuro shook his head, "those things have no horns or wings, they're not pegasus and they're not unicorns, what they are is stupid. I want to ride on that!" Neuro pointed at the roller coaster and ran towards it.
He was too small to be allowed to ride it and Yako knew it. "Wait! That ride is really boring and it's getting late. Let's go home, it'll be dark soon!"
"It can't be dark because the lava lights up everything all the time," Neuro paused, there was no lava around that area, he hasn't seen any since he woke up in the human world. Then he looked to the sky, "that big lightbulb up there," he moved his gaze towards the horizon, "the big light bulb is falling?"
"That's the sun and it's setting, it will be out of sight soon. Please, let's go home?" Any excuse was good for Yako, but she had a feeling that she would have to come up with something better than darkness.
"Okay," Neuro surprisingly agreed.
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When they returned to Yako's apartment it was already night time. Neuro looked uneasy, but Yako wasn't sure why. When she was little, she ended up with many different babysitters, so being away from her parents for a long time didn't frighten her, but maybe Neuro missed his parents.
Yako placed Neuro on her bed, "if you're tired you can sleep here."
He shook his head, "I'm not tired, but this place is warm and soft so I like it."
"You can rest then," Yako suggested.
Neuro took the bag of crackers out of his pocket and placed them on the night stand so he wouldn't crush them if he rolled over. He then pointed at something on the other side of the room. "I want that."
Yako went over to her desk where the little Neuro bird doll she had made for her home economics class' final sewing project was. "Here you go," she gave it to him.
Neuro hugged the soft plushie and cuddled under the blanket. He wasn't tired, but he was comfortable. Then Puzzle did something bad, she pulled down the curtains, turned off the lights and went away. "Puzzle!"
Yako rushed back to the room, turning on the lights, "what's wrong?"
"Bad Puzzle, making it all dark, I don't like the dark!" Neuro pouted, big green eyes glowing.
"Aw, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you disliked the dark," Yako apologized, doing her best to hide a laugh, which luckily went unnoticed. "I'll leave the light on."
"Leave the light on and stay, your master orders it!" Neuro pointed at the empty space on the bed next to him, "here Puzzle, sit, stay, good girl."
Yako obeyed without complaints and little Neuro used her as a pillow and closed his glowing emerald eyes.
Just when Yako thought Neuro had fallen asleep, he spoke, "Puzzle, when I'm old enough, I'm marrying you," then he drifted off to sleep for real.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I don't own Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro. There's a reference to the Regnoran Galaxy RPG in Mystery 44. In Mystery 48 Neuro's "okay" is a reference to Mindy's "okay, I love you, bye-bye," from Animaniacs. Yako's gorilla kidnap experience in Mystery 49 is a reference to the first Mario game, "Donkey Kong", where he was called Jumpman and had to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong.
Mystery 44: Cars
Yako sighed, she had no idea her car was really that expensive. She thought the model looked unfamiliar because it was a bargain; she didn't want her mom or anyone spending too much on her. "Mom mentioned Yukari helped her pick the car," she was on the back seat along with Neuro, while Godai drove. "Yukari must have tricked her into thinking that her budget covered the cost of the car and paid for the rest herself. It's funny how she claims she learned to disregard material possessions, but for her it means not knowing the value of anything and thinking living in luxury is natural and not special at all. You won't believe how many jewels she stuffed in my luggage in secret and I didn't notice until I was in Japan, then when I called her about it, she told me they were just pretty stones and I should treat them as nothing more; it's frustrating."
"I would love to be frustrated like that," Godai commented; his foot had not left the gas pedal since they started the trip.
"What am I supposed to give my mom and Yukari, I'm broke," Yako pouted.
"You're broke because you spend all your money on food, but don't worry, your generous master will help you. As a present for your cousin, I'll exterminate her feather duster problem for good, he just barely got away from me last time," Neuro suggested.
"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks," Yako's eyes locked on Neuro's and she blushed deeply. She didn't even hear Godai's out of character speech about how her happiness was enough of a reward for her mother and cousin. "Neuro, did you do something just now?"
"This car has quite the arsenal of spells on it. There is a protective spell to prevent damage or robbery, a speed spell on the engine, a super reflex spell that takes effect on anyone in the driver's seat and the back seat has a charm that amplifies lust. I take it the feather duster set them up," Neuro theorized.
"Oh no, Yukari must have insisted on that last one and come up with some twisted explanation about why it's for our own good. What was she thinking?" Yako felt her heart pounding.
"You're the one who understands how people think, worm," Neuro pointed out.
Yako nodded, remembering her role, "she was hoping we would take the car someplace far away and... well, you know." Then she mentally kicked herself for reciting the analysis when she should have kept quiet about it.
"Don't forget I'm right here!" Godai felt the need to remind.
"By the way slave number two, we are heading for the race tracks, not the other side of Japan," Neuro pointed out. Yako then noticed the world out the window was a blur of speed she didn't even feel, this was one very special car indeed.
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At the race tracks management office, Yako and Neuro met with the client, while Godai insisted on waiting in the car, wanting to enjoy sitting in it for a while longer. Yako and Neuro both knew he would take it out for a drive, but he didn't care and she wasn't really bothered by it.
They met the client who introduced them to the manager of the race tracks. "It's a relief to have detective Katsuragi on the case, I'm sure that the culprit will finally be discovered now."
"I'll try my best, please tell us about what's been happening; are there any details that stand out?" Yako inquired.
"Yes, all the cars that were involved in the accidents were using generic parts. There was a rumor that they were unsafe and only genuine parts should be used in cars. But this has only started happening recently and with an alarming frequency so it can't be a coincidence," the manager explained. "I'm sure there has to be some kind of sabotage involved, but I don't know how it could have been done. The cars were checked before the races and guarded to make sure no one tampered with them. Even so, all the cars with generic parts failed and went out of control in the race. There have even been a few fatal casualties, though most of the racers managed to survive the accidents, but with serious injuries. They said that the steering stopped responding and when they tried to stop, the breaks didn't work either. I have the files with the details of all the races with accidents here," the manager took a folder from his desk. "It's all there, since the day the accidents started happening," he handed the folder to Yako.
Yako opened the folder and looked over the files inside, not sure what exactly she was searching for. Neuro asked the next question. "Did anything unusual happen close to the date when the accidents began?"
"It was a tragedy," the manager replied, "one of our mechanics died a few days earlier. He was soon replaced by a new one and as you can imagine, he was the first suspect for the sabotages. I suspended him, but the accidents didn't stop. I thought maybe another mechanic was trying to frame him, so I suspended each of them one by one in my own little investigation, but the accidents continued. All the mechanics have come back to work since then. The drivers have good knowledge about cars, so not only the mechanics checked them, the racers did too. It wouldn't make sense to risk one's own safety, so I'm sure they were careful while checking the cars and guarding them from the other competitors. Even so, the accidents kept on happening."
"Then you're saying that though the cars were apparently in perfect conditions, they still failed during the race and this happened only with the cars using generic parts," Neuro reviewed.
"Yes," the manager confirmed, "some of the other cars got caught in the accidents, but they were not the cause and drivers didn't report any malfunctions."
"What about Ryuusei Ikioi?" Yako suddenly asked, "according to these records, his car was modified with generic parts, but didn't malfunction in his first race, it did malfunction later though..."
"Was there anything different about that race?" Neuro elaborated.
"Ryuusei's first race, I remember, he was a late entry, we thought he wouldn't show up, he even missed having his picture taken. He drove straight to the starting line as soon as he arrived. His car wasn't even checked before the race," the manager revealed.
"Then the culprit didn't have time to sabotage his car," Yako concluded.
"But who can sabotage cars so quickly and without being seen, even if the cars were checked over and over, and closely guarded the entire time? Everyone here was cleared of suspicion, how could the culprit slip through? I'm not going to deny that the crime must have happened somewhere in this racing facility, everything points to that, but how? It seems impossible to accomplish," the manager mused.
"Sensei needs some time to think about the case, she wishes to have a look around," Neuro spoke.
"Very well, I must go get things ready for today's race, I entrust the future of this race track and the safety of our racers to you," the manager agreed.
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Neuro and Yako made their way to the garage where the racers and mechanics were getting ready. They received suspicious looks and warning glares. "There are a lot of people here, but each team seems to be guarding their car closely," Yako commented.
Neuro grinned with anticipation, "this mystery is on the tip of my tongue..."
Two familiar men approached, "why are you two here?" Sasazuka inquired.
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Mystery 45: Training
Sasazuka and Ishigaki had arrived to investigate the race tracks and were surprised to find that Yako and Neuro were there as well. "We were hired to investigate the accidents," Yako explained.
"That's why we're here too, there have been too many and this place will have to shut down if this doesn't stop," Sasazuka revealed.
"I really hope everything can be solved, this place is cool and they sell really nice souvenirs!" Ishigaki showed off his new toy car, which Sasazuka snatched away and crushed beneath his foot, much to Ishigaki's agony.
"We'll proceed with our investigation," Sasazuka dragged the crying Ishigaki away.
"Just like old times, isn't it Neuro?" Yako smiled fondly.
"Old times?" Neuro commented.
"It's a new part of my life and I think there have been many changes, but there are also things that stayed the same," Yako concluded.
Neuro squeezed Yako's head, rubbing his knuckles against her temples. "Let's see if that tiny brain of yours has finally grown from one cell to two. What should we investigate next?"
"Should we take a closer look at the cars?" Yako suggested, though she knew it wouldn't be easy. The racing teams were very protective of the cars and they had their reasons to be, with all the sabotage going around.
"Wrong! Try again," Neuro squeezed Yako's head tighter.
"Ow... we should investigate the race track!" Maybe the problem was in the race track itself. That would explain why cars that were confirmed to be in perfect condition before the race suddenly malfunctioned, maybe something in the race track caused it. But that wouldn't explain how that one racer escaped being in an accident because he was late to his first race.
"Really slave, where has your evolution gone? Or was that just temporary enlightenment? You haven't evolved at all, how disappointing..." Neuro squeezed Yako's head even tighter.
'Think Yako, think... What detail stands out, what saved Ryuusei that one time?' Yako tried to remember all that the manager said and what appeared on the files. "We should investigate the camera," it sounded silly, but it was the only difference Yako could come up with. The racer who was late and avoided being in an accident on that one race didn't get his picture taken.
"It took you long enough to think of that," Neuro finally let go of Yako's head.
"But what could the camera do?" Yako thought aloud.
"When something goes wrong, humans try to find faults in the machinery involved, even if it is proven to be in working conditions. More often than not, it's actually a human malfunction," Neuro explained.
Yako grinned in amusement, "well done Neuro, you were able to understand a little more about humans, you've evolved!"
"Very funny slave, don't forget I still owe you a punishment," Neuro put Yako in a headlock and dragged her off towards a camera that sat outside on a tripod, unattended, the wall behind it was painted with bright colors, displaying the logo of the race track.
Neuro released Yako and began to examine the camera just on time for Sasazuka and Ishigaki to return. "Did you find something suspicious there?" Sasazuka inquired.
"Sensei thinks there's something odd about this camera," Neuro innocently replied.
"Let me see," Ishigaki looked through it, "it looks fine to me, everything is in focus."
Sasazuka wasn't sure how a camera could be related to the accidents, but when Yako and Neuro showed up, things became strange, so maybe this really was some sort of clue. "We'll just take this camera and examine it in more detail," Sasazuka took the camera and walked away, followed by Ishigaki.
"Sorry about that, he took away your clue," Ishigaki apologized, then he ran to catch up with Sasazuka.
As Yako watched Sasazuka and Ishigaki leave, she came to a new conclusion, which she announced when they were out of hearing distance. "There was nothing wrong with the camera; you just wanted to keep them busy."
"Keep on evolving top slug," Neuro confirmed the truthfulness of her theory in his own way. "Do you know what we should do next?" Neuro pinched Yako's cheeks and pulled them.
"Ouch, interview Ryuusei?" Yako asked unsure.
Neuro let her go, "correct, let's gather more clues."
"But you said this mystery was on the tip of your tongue," Yako reminded.
"I know the answer, but you still don't, your tiny under-evolved brain needs a lot more clues than mine. I've been making this too easy for you in the past, it's about time you did more than act as a simple cover up; I expect you to work harder than that, this is an order from your master," Neuro didn't expect Yako to be smiling like that. "What is going through that empty head of yours? I mean aside from thoughts of food."
"I'm happy because you're letting me participate more in the process of solving a mystery. It's like you're really training me now, or as you say, helping me evolve. I'll solve this mystery!" Yako was filled with determination.
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After asking around, Yako managed to get Ryuusei's phone number. He would have a full recovery soon, but he needed to rest and would not race for a while. After explaining who she was and the purpose of the call, Yako listened to Ryuusei's narration of what happened that day when he was late.
"I wasn't sure if they would let me race at all. I just drove over to the tracks and took my place at the starting line. The owner was right there on the side lines, next to the start, he just nodded at me as if saying it was okay. The announcer introduced everyone and the race started. Everything was normal until some cars behind me started going out of control and crashing, except I was focusing on going forward and didn't notice at first. It was a disaster zone and no one could get by for another lap so we just cancelled the race. I was lucky my breaks are good, or I would have crashed right into the wreckage when I went for another lap."
"Was there anything else that was different, any details would be helpful, no matter how insignificant and unrelated they may sound," Yako requested more information, hoping to find some sort of clue.
"Well, I was late so I didn't get my picture taken and I raced with my own helmet," Ryuusei revealed.
Yako caught the clue and inquired about it further, "please tell me about the helmets!" She was on to something, she could feel it.
"The helmets we wear are provided by the race track, we can wear whatever logos we want on our clothes or printed on the cars, but we need to wear the race track's helmets. They have radio transmitters to alert us of danger if needed and to allow us to request help if we think something may be wrong. I would have stopped sooner if I had known the track was blocked by the other cars and I wouldn't be able to continue another lap, I really burned out my tires with that stop. I'm sorry I can't be very helpful, detective."
"You've been very helpful, thank you," Yako assured. After the call was done, she looked at Neuro and revealed her new theory, "it's the helmets."
"Finally, if I waited for you to solve mysteries on your own every time, I would starve to death," Neuro confirmed the truthfulness of the theory. "This is something you should have suspected from the start."
"How so?" Yako couldn't begin to understand how she was supposed to make such a leap right from the beginning.
"You're so focused on one point; you fail to notice the surroundings. Mysteries are formed by a lot of details that need to be united and fitted together like pieces of a puzzle, that's what a mystery is. Once you know what the picture in the puzzle looks like, instead of doubting it, you should start searching for the pieces. Sometimes you have different pictures in mind, different suspects and possibilities, start looking for the pieces anyway and with each one you find, the possibilities will be narrowed," Neuro explained.
"That was deep..." Yako thought about it, the first part specially caught her attention. "Let's go back to the manager's office."
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On the way back to the manager's office Neuro tripped Yako; she got to her feet as quickly as possible and looked at Neuro with annoyance, "I thought you would be nicer to me."
"I haven't killed you even if you're troublesome and stupid, that's nice," Neuro replied.
"That's not nice enough, I thought you would show me you care, I thought-" Yako's complaints were cut short when Neuro pushed her into the remains of a car, which was clearly not going to function ever again. Her upper body fell on the soft driver's seat, her head missing the lever in the middle, something that she was thankful for, and her legs remained out of the car. "Neuro, what are you-" Yako had began to get up, but Neuro pushed her down again, pinning her to the seat.
He was on top of her, and he was close, very close. "Isn't this what you wanted?"
Yako blushed scarlet, "stop it, get off, people will see us." She struggled to no avail, despite summoning all her strength. Suddenly, she was able to turn the situation around and roll on top of Neuro. He was taller and being pushed to the bottom he hit his head on the lever between the seats.
"What are they doing?"
"Shh, be quiet and watch!"
Yako froze upon hearing the voices. She attempted to get out of the car, but her legs had become tangled with Neuro's when he let her push him down, he must have heard those people coming. The result was Yako losing her balance and falling on Neuro, pushing him down again, to hit his head with the lever a second time. When she finally got herself untangled, Yako hurried out of the car, the two curious observers jumping out of her way, while whispering about how rough the detective was.
Neuro got out of the car as well, "wait for me, sensei," he followed after Yako, rubbing his head just for show.
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Mystery 46: Meal Time
At the race track manager's office, Yako took a moment to observe the atmosphere. She noticed the pictures hanging on the walls. The racers were all wearing different colors, but held matching helmets. That was unusual; their helmets matched the race track logo instead of their clothes and cars. Neuro must have noticed that right away.
Then, when Neuro saw how well guarded the cars were, he concluded that the cars were not the cause of the accidents. If it was a malfunction in the driver, the helmets would be suspicious of causing it.
When Yako thought of a malfunction, she didn't think of humans. Sure they made plenty of mistakes, but these had not been mistakes, they had too much in common, it was all too well arranged to be a mere coincidental mistake.
"Detective Katsuragi?" The manager's voice woke Yako from her thoughts. "Have you come up with a lead in your investigation?"
"Not yet," Yako lied, if the manager was the culprit, she didn't want him to become defensive, though somehow he didn't seem the type, even if he was the prime suspect according to her findings so far. "I've learned a lot about your race track, it looks like everything is well organized and you have been really taking safety into consideration, I even heard about the helmets with the radio transmitters. Don't worry; I'll solve this mystery somehow."
"Thank you detective. I hope this can be solved soon or I'll be forced to close down the race track and that criminal will be left unpunished," the manager was visibly stressed.
"You do have insurance, don't you?" Neuro curiously asked; his tone filled with fake innocence.
"Of course I do, but it's not nearly enough to pay for everything," the manager sighed. "I can show you the documents if that would help in any way."
Yako found the topic of the insurance to be suspicious, but she decided to trust her instincts and not jump to conclusions. "Do you have recordings of the transmissions from the helmets?"
"Yes, the drivers sound desperate, saying the car isn't responding. You may listen to them if you wish," the manager offered.
Yako didn't have Neuro's deductive powers, but she had her own perceptive abilities. The manager agreed to allow her to hear those recordings too easily. Then she thought of something else, "I didn't know such technology existed, too bad it only recorded tragedy. Who made those helmets anyway?" She disguised her investigation behind innocent curiosity.
Once again, the manager answered quickly, "it was the new mechanic, he wanted to contribute to the safety of the racers. It was unfortunate that the accidents started soon after."
It was all too suspicious; the new mechanic's timing was impeccable, but the manager had closed his mind to the possibility of there being a problem with the helmets; because he was convinced the problem was sabotage. He had all the pieces to the puzzle but the picture he imagined wasn't right and he refused to let it go. He had the proof but didn't know it and couldn't make an accusation until the evidence was recognized. "Can I see one of the helmets?"
"Sure," the manager walked over to a storage closet, "I have some spares right here."
Yako examined the helmet that was handed to her; it was numbered and had the logo of the race track. "This is it..." she looked at Neuro who nodded. Using technology to hypnotize was something that had been done before in a different way. In an isolated helmet, it would be even easier to flood the brain with electromagnetic waves. It was a command sent to those targeted by the culprit.
"Sensei is ready to announce who the culprit is," Neuro spoke, "all the race track workers and racing teams must gather at the starting line and sensei will point out the culprit."
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Everyone gathered as requested, just as Godai came back from his drive. He parked Yako's car and curiously went to see what was going on. Yako had asked the manager before they left the office earlier about the identity of that new mechanic, and he had even shown her a picture on his employee file. However, the manager still had no idea how there could be evidence against him.
Yako stepped forward; she didn't feel Neuro's energy around her. He wasn't going to point out the culprit in her name this time; she had to make the announcement on her own. "The culprit is..."
"You!" Godai suddenly yelled, pointing at one of the racers.
"Assistant number two," Neuro scolded, "I know sensei has already told both of us what her conclusions are, but it's her duty and her right to make the announcement. Please don't overstep your authority next time, I'm saying this for your own safety, I'm afraid sensei will punish you harshly if you don't behave."
Everything spiraled into chaos from there. The culprit, whom Godai had correctly pointed out, went over the edge, turning into a car monster. The criminal car drove away and Neuro snatched the keys from Godai and threw Yako into the driver's seat of her car, hopping on the roof and commanding, "after him!"
Confused beyond words, Yako did as she was told and chased the rampaging mutant car around the race track, "I always win, you can't catch me! My genuine car is the best, yours is just a cheap imitation!" The culprit yelled, not realizing that Yako's car was in fact genuine and far more expensive than anything he ever drove.
"You won't get away!" Yako stomped on the gas, her car jumping forward; she was driving right next to the culprit.
The smoke of hot tires and fuel exhaust shielded Neuro, "itadakimasu!" He devoured the mystery.
When the smoke cleared, Sasazuka and Ishigaki rushed over to arrest the criminal, who kept muttering incoherently while shaking in fear. "Glowing green eyes! How did the little monster get so big?"
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When it was all said, done, explained and clarified, Neuro, Yako and Godai headed back to the detective office. "It seems slave number two has somehow surpassed the evolution of slave number one," Neuro observed.
"I can't believe I had it wrong. I thought for sure it was the new mechanic," Yako was very disappointed in herself. "Neuro, you were going to let me point out the wrong culprit weren't you? I can picture it, you would jump out and say 'sensei is only kidding, she needs more time to finish her investigation' or something like that."
"Congratulations, you were able to predict what I was going to do, even if it was too late," Neuro mocked sarcastically. "You missed a very important detail," he continued more seriously, "the racers didn't take the helmets with them, those stayed at the race track facilities so different racers ended up using them during each race. Everyone seems to be aware of what kind of car each racer drives, but if the new mechanic was suspended, how would he know which racer ended up with what helmet number if the helmets are handed out on the same day as the race?"
"He wouldn't know; the culprit had to be there on each day," Yako realized.
"According to the documents provided by the manager during the very beginning of our investigation, there was a racer who fit the description. He drove a car with no generic parts, he was present on each of the races and though he was in some accidents himself, he was never the cause and they were all minor; it was a cover up. He must have snuck into the control room and activated the proper helmet numbers after he saw who got which helmet. All the racers are holding their helmets in the picture taken before the race, which gave him a chance to find out who got what number. The culprit was the only one present in the facilities on each day when accidents happened, other than the manager who was losing money because of the property damage and canceled races," Neuro explained.
"If only I had spoken to my suspect before going off to accuse him, maybe I would have noticed it wasn't him and searched for more information. That racer tampered with the helmets and framed him," Yako was feeling frustrated with herself.
"Your strength is to read people, you're not anywhere near as perceptive as I am and your memory isn't as clear when it comes to details. I did try to help you by reminding you that you need more clues than I do," Neuro pointed out.
Yako sighed, "don't rub it in. I failed, but next time for sure I'll solve the mystery! One thing still puzzles me, how in the world did Godai figure it out if he wasn't even there during the investigation?"
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Mystery 47: Love Sick
Godai had been rather quiet the entire time, while he, Yako and Neuro discussed the recently resolved race track case back at the detective office. Now Yako had asked the question that was driving her insane, how did Godai point out the correct culprit when she could not? He wasn't even there during the investigation. "The truth is I didn't even know what was going on, I just pointed at that guy because I recognized him from a murder I witnessed," Godai admitted.
Yako's jaw dropped, "when did that happen? You should have said something before!"
"I don't want to get involved with the police, it'll be too close for comfort if they make me witness," Godai explained. "It happened when Kaiyo was still here; I told you about it before, remember? I had gone to pick up my car from the mechanic. He dealt in generic parts; I guess that's what ticked off that car obsessed guy. I arrived just as the murder was committed, but I didn't realize what was going on until that guy pointed a gun at me for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kaiyo took a bite off his gun and spat it out like chewed bubble gum and that scared him away."
"I remember when you told me about that, there was so much going on at the time I couldn't think about it too much. The mechanic that the manager mentioned had died must have been that same one. How did I miss the connection, the timing was the same, I should have known," Yako frowned, she was really looking forward to solving this case.
"That's what the culprit was muttering about; he thought I was Kaiyo somehow grown up in such a short time," Neuro concluded. "Even after this, I'm still hungry, go out and find more food for me slaves, I'll be here sleeping, wake me up when you find a juicy mystery." Yako looked at Neuro with worry; he was sleeping a lot lately.
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The days passed and the mysteries came and went. Neuro had been steadily consuming mysteries now that Yako was a full time detective, but he still looked tired and it worried Yako terribly. She woke up one morning because the temperature felt awfully hot, and she found that Neuro was curled up next to her, shivering as if he was freezing under a mountain of blankets.
Yako slipped out of bed and wondered what she should do, if he didn't even bother hiding this state from her, it must have been pretty bad. Then she saw a pair of green eyes open, glowing alarmingly dim. "Neuro, what's wrong with you? Please tell me how I can help."
"Find me a mystery, I'm hungry," Neuro replied, his voice sounding sleepy.
"This is more than just hunger, you're sick," Yako's mind was racing; then suddenly it came to an abrupt stop upon a theory. "Wait a minute, are you just pretending to be sick so I'll get worried and you can get back at me?"
"You caught me, I am pretending; now find me some food, that's an order from your master, hurry up!" Neuro insisted.
"No, if you were pretending you wouldn't admit it so easily. You really are sick! Unless you thought that I would think that... Anyway, I'm not taking any chances," determined, Yako left the room. Neuro wondered what she meant, but didn't give it too much thought and went back to sleep.
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Neuro woke up with a sneeze, his vision focused on the cause of his allergies, which was leaning over him, "yes, it's definitely love, Neuro is love sick. His kind cannot come to terms with such an emotion easily, so this happened."
"Oh no!" Yako gasped, "I made Neuro sick, poor Neuro..."
"Don't worry, he'll get over it," Angelus assured, "although before that happens, he'll have to admit his feelings. If he cannot do so in this form, he might go back to the way he was before."
Neuro continued sneezing, eyes glowing with anger, though still relatively dim, as he grabbed Angelus by the ear, pulled him along and shoved him out the window, closing it and returning to bed. "I order you to stop associating with such filth." Then he promptly fell asleep.
Yako watched him with curiosity, 'back to the way he was before?' she thought, 'does that mean he won't be able to stay in his human form?'
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It was a new day; Neuro had slept through all of yesterday and last night, and he was still sleeping. Yako went to check on him, lifting the covers curiously. The figure under the mountain of blankets appeared to be smaller and in was in fact smaller. It was a purple bird about the size of a human toddler.
The purple bird looked at Yako curiously, lifted his wing and declared, "mine!"
"Neuro?" Yako was confused beyond belief.
"Good, you have learned your master's name already. You're not of my kind so I can do whatever I want with you because you're an inferior creature. I'll take you as my slave, what are you and what do you call yourself?" The little bird Neuro asked, his voice sounding suspiciously like a child's.
"I'm a human and my name is Yako," the confused girl replied.
"I don't like it, your name is now Puzzle," Neuro decided. "What is this place Puzzle, how did I get here?"
"This is my room," Yako answered, her confusion growing, what in the world was going on with Neuro? He not only turned into a bird, but he was smaller.
"Be specific," Neuro ordered.
"My room, in my apartment, in Japan, on Earth, on the surface of the Earth, this is the human world," Yako hoped that was specific enough.
"I'm in the human world? Bad human, kidnapping me like that, mommy will be mad. I bet my baby sister put you up to it, she's always trying to get rid of me because I'm better than her and she's jealous, the little brat. No matter, mommy will come get me soon enough and as punishment for your actions; you'll have to be my slave forever. Until then, I want to have a look around, I order you to give me a tour of this world."
Yako nodded slowly, "um... can you disguise yourself as a human? It will be troublesome if people start panicking, they'll get in the way," Yako hoped that was enough to convince Neuro to cooperate if he could.
The miniature Neuro nodded, transforming into a cute toddler with blond hair, dark purple-black bangs and green eyes. He wore a cute, yet somewhat silly, little sailor suit, complete with a tiny hat.
Yako concluded that going back to the way he was before didn't mean Neuro would permanently revert to his true form; it meant he would go back to being a child. He didn't seem to have memories from when he was a grown up, so how was he supposed to come to terms with his feelings to be cured and go back to normal, if such feelings didn't exist in his memories? Yako thought it might be best not to upset him by calling Angelus again and instead played along. "If anyone asks, you can tell them you're Neuro's little brother who is visiting, that is, another Neuro I know of," Yako warned before they went out.
"I'm not little!" Neuro pouted cutely. "I'll pretend to be that other Neuro's big brother."
"But you're younger than him..." Yako argued.
"What is he an old geezer?" Neuro inquired.
Yako figured she might as well go with it. "Yeah, he's a grumpy old man."
"Okay, fine, I'm his younger brother then, but I'm not little!" The tiny Neuro continued to pout. "Puzzle, I order you to carry me."
Though he was small, Yako found that the toddler version of Neuro was rather heavy despite his size. This was going to be a long day.
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Mystery 48: Sight Seeing
As Yako made her way down the street, unsure of where she should take little Neuro, he kept poking her. "Ouch, please stop that, it hurts."
"Humans are weak," Neuro concluded, though at least he stopped poking Yako in favor of instead petting her hair. "Humans are soft," he was distracted from his observations when he saw some strange creatures behind a glass window, "what's that?"
Yako approached, "this is a pet shop, do you want to go inside and look around?"
"Okay," Neuro nodded eagerly and when they went in he ordered, "put me down Puzzle," and Yako set him on the floor, following him closely. Neuro looked at some puppies; those were strange creatures to him, "what are these?"
"Those are puppies, small dogs," Yako explained.
Neuro shook his little head in disapproval, "you're stupid Puzzle, those are not dogs. Dogs have three heads and these creatures only have one." Neuro moved on to another area.
'Three heads? Is he talking about Cerberus?' Yako thought.
Neuro looked at the kittens with curiosity; he pointed and said, "cats." Then he looked a little confused, "why are there cats here, there are no spirits for them to guard, I would sense them if there were."
"Cats and do-those other creatures, are both pets, every animal in this shop is a pet," Yako tried to explain, but Neuro ignored her. It seemed that every legend was somehow connected to something Neuro had seen before.
A colorful parrot on a perch then caught Neuro's attention and he rushed over to it. "You're stupid," he told the parrot, "there's no way that disguise is going to work, you don't look anything like my kind, your beak is too small."
"Polly want a cracker!" The parrot replied, not really understanding anything Neuro told it.
"Who's Polly and what's a cracker? Puzzle, are crackers good?" Neuro looked at Yako with big shining green eyes; at least he looked healthy and energetic again.
"Yes, crackers are very good, there's a shop down the street that sells them; do you want crackers?" Yako smiled at the thought of food.
"Okay," Neuro nodded energetically and took her hand; at least it looked like he decided he wanted to walk now. They made their way out of the pet shop and down the street to the snack shop where Yako bought a bag of crackers for Neuro. "I know you like eating mysteries, but don't you want to try the crackers?"
Neuro looked at the small bag with the strange things inside it, "this isn't food," he picked up one of the fish shaped yellow things. "it's some kind of soft stone," he tossed the cracker back in the bag and held it out. "If this is food, prove it."
"Gladly," Yako took the bag of crackers and emptied it in her mouth, chewing with a crunching sound and swallowing the cheesy treats.
Little Neuro gasped in shocked horror, "you ate my crackers!" He began to cry.
Yako panicked and the shop keeper gave her a look of disproval, "another bag of crackers please!"
She quickly gave it to Neuro, who ceased his crying and hugged the snack sized bag before putting it in his pocket. "I'm keeping it as a souvenir."
Yako breathed in relief and purchased a variety of miscellaneous snacks for herself, which she ate on the way as she and Neuro walked to the park, Yako thought he might like to play there.
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By the time they reached the park, Yako had already finished eating her various snacks, "you're strange," Neuro observed, "eating such weird things. What kind of place is this? Those contraptions are so primitive."
"This is a park, you can play here," Yako was starting to have second thoughts about bringing Neuro to a park; it might not be a good idea to let him play with human children.
Neuro approached a see-saw and a human child went over to the other side, "hey kid, get on!" Neuro pouted, that human was trying to order him around. He went to the opposite side of the see-saw, but instead of riding it like he was told, he jumped on it, catapulting the human child into the air.
"No!" Yako ran to catch the unfortunate boy, arriving just on time to save him from painfully crashing into the ground. She set the frightened boy down and he fearfully ran away, crying for his mother. "Neuro, we should get out of here," Yako paused; Neuro was looking at her with pouty faced disapproval. "I mean, this place is kind of lame, I know of a better place we can visit, okay?"
"Okay," Neuro agreed, "carry me again." Without wasting any time, Yako picked up Neuro and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.
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"This is where we started from," Neuro pointed at the apartment building.
"This other place is kind of far, so instead of walking, we're going to ride on the car, it'll be a lot faster and more fun that way," Yako assured.
"Okay," thankfully, Neuro agreed easily. He sat in the passenger seat and refused to wear a seat bealt. Yako gave up on convincing him, it's not like he was in any danger anyway. "This car smells weird."
Yako couldn't perceive any strange scents in her car, unless he meant it smelled like flowery scented spray, she used it to hide the scent of food that stuck to the car since she was always eating in it and the scent that remained made her hungry again. "What do you mean?"
"It smells like someone put some spells on it, but I'm not sure what kind," Neuro explained.
"Don't worry, those are not bad spells," Yako smiled sweetly and that seemed to be enough to reassure Neuro, who amused himself by looking out the window during the rest of the trip.
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Grateful that she had not been caught by the police, Yako parked her car at the zoo and she and Neuro walked to the ticket booth. She purchased the tickets and led Neuro inside, at least he didn't seem to have a problem with holding her hand; it would be troublesome if he ran off.
Fate would have it that they should find Ishigaki at the zoo, he carried a multitude of souvenirs and appeared to be quite happy and excited to be spending his day off there. "Yako! What a coincidence that you're here too, look at all these cute things I bought! I hope Sasazuka likes the gift I got for him. Oh! Who's this with you? He looks like a little Neuro!"
Neuro pouted and stepped on Ishigaki's foot harshly, causing him to drop all his souvenirs and start hopping on the other foot, while clutching his injured foot. "I'm not little! I'm younger than the grumpy old geezer Neuro, but I'm not little! I'm his brother and my name is," he paused, it was unfortunate that another creature, an unworthy one no doubt, had the same name as him, so he decided to tell this human a different name, "my name is Sherlock, just like the comic book super hero that solves mysteries with 777 magical tools!"
Ishigaki wasn't really listening because he had lost his balance and fallen down. Now he sat there, crying over how much his foot hurt, loud enough to catch the attention of a zoo employee, who promised to return with help.
"It was an accident; please don't tell anyone what really happened!" Yako pleaded.
"Ouch my foot! Don't worry, I forgive the lit-I mean, the big darling. Wah!" Leaving Ishigaki alone before Neuro wounded him further; Yako led her adorable little terror to another part of the zoo.
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Mystery 49: A Light in the Dark
Everything appeared to be improving, Neuro would point at the zoo animals and Yako would tell him what they were. He would occasionally correct her, claiming it was some other creature, usually a mythological one, and she decided that it was best not to argue with him.
They ran into Sasazuka, who had been called over by a crying Ishigaki, who claimed he was unable to drive with his injured foot, which was declared to be broken. Hence he was stuck in the zoo until someone came to pick him up. It took many calls and plenty of crying to finally convince Sasazuka to go to the rescue and he was on his way to the zoo's infirmary when he saw Yako.
Naturally, Sasazuka was curious about the little boy who looked like Neuro, but did not make the mistake of actually calling him little. "I'm Neuro's brother, Sherlock Nogami," Neuro introduced himself to the human, whom Puzzle had identified as Sasazuka.
Yako had excused Neuro's lack of presence by saying that he was bedridden with a terrible cold, so she volunteered to spend the day with his brother. Sasazuka looked suspicious, but decided to go along with it.
"Sasazuka is a stupid name," Neuro decided, "you should be called Riddle."
"I see, very well then, Riddle it is," Sasazuka decided to humor the strange boy, which unknowingly spared him the possibility of being seriously injured. He said his goodbyes and went off in his unwilling Ishigaki rescue mission.
Yako had only taken her eyes off Neuro for a short moment saying goodbye to Sasazuka and she no longer felt his small hand in hers. She searched for him to find he had vanished. "Neuro? Neuro, where did you go?"
The ground trembled as a stampede of animals rushed over. An elephant grabbed Yako with its trunk, placing her on its back where Neuro was riding. "I let the strange creatures out to play!"
"I should have known coming here was a bad idea!" The elephant suddenly stopped upon seeing an overturned peanut cart and sat down to eat. Yako rolled off its back and fell on the ground, to be picked up by a gorilla, who carried her away.
"Puzzle!" Neuro gave chase. "Give back Puzzle, she's mine!"
The giant ape rushed up a building next to the zoo, which was still under construction. He tossed Yako aside once they reached the top and started throwing things at Neuro as he climbed up in pursuit.
"I'm coming for you Puzzle!" Neuro jumped on the gorilla's head, knocking him out on impact and hurried to hug Yako. "Don't let yourself get stolen again, don't forget you're mine forever!"
Yako's heart was pounding from all the action, "thank you for saving me," she finally managed to speak, "I think we should go someplace else now."
Neuro nodded in agreement, "okay." Yako looked down from the unfinished building; she didn't know how she was going to get down from there. Then Neuro pushed her off and jumped after her, catching her in mid air and flapping his wings wildly. He couldn't fly while carrying her, she was too heavy for such small wings, but he slowed the fall enough for Yako to be safely placed on the ground below.
Fortunately, everyone was so busy with the escaped animals, that no one noticed the mutant bird child. Yako and Neuro quickly snuck back to her car and got away from the chaos.
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The next stop was an amusement park a considerable distance away. Yako stuffed her face with treats and Neuro watched her, entertained by her black hole appetite, until he spotted a stand advertising 'kaleidoscope cotton candy'. The fluffy substance was a mix of swirling colors, which made it look like something else, "a mystery! Look puzzle, that human is using that strange machine to make mysteries! I want them!"
Yako was both surprised and amused by the comparison, was that what a mystery looked like to Neuro? Swirling colors, fluffed together, like a cloud seen through a kaleidoscope. "It's cotton candy, I'm not sure if you'll like it, but I'll get some for you."
Neuro received the cotton candy and smelled it, "it looks like a mystery, but it doesn't smell like one." He tried eating it and was disappointed. "This isn't a mystery, this is more human food. Here Puzzle, you can eat this," Neuro gave the cotton candy back to Yako and ran off, with her chasing after him while eating.
Neuro looked at the merry-go-round curiously and Yako asked, "do you want to ride it?"
Unexpectedly, Neuro shook his head, "those things have no horns or wings, they're not pegasus and they're not unicorns, what they are is stupid. I want to ride on that!" Neuro pointed at the roller coaster and ran towards it.
He was too small to be allowed to ride it and Yako knew it. "Wait! That ride is really boring and it's getting late. Let's go home, it'll be dark soon!"
"It can't be dark because the lava lights up everything all the time," Neuro paused, there was no lava around that area, he hasn't seen any since he woke up in the human world. Then he looked to the sky, "that big lightbulb up there," he moved his gaze towards the horizon, "the big light bulb is falling?"
"That's the sun and it's setting, it will be out of sight soon. Please, let's go home?" Any excuse was good for Yako, but she had a feeling that she would have to come up with something better than darkness.
"Okay," Neuro surprisingly agreed.
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When they returned to Yako's apartment it was already night time. Neuro looked uneasy, but Yako wasn't sure why. When she was little, she ended up with many different babysitters, so being away from her parents for a long time didn't frighten her, but maybe Neuro missed his parents.
Yako placed Neuro on her bed, "if you're tired you can sleep here."
He shook his head, "I'm not tired, but this place is warm and soft so I like it."
"You can rest then," Yako suggested.
Neuro took the bag of crackers out of his pocket and placed them on the night stand so he wouldn't crush them if he rolled over. He then pointed at something on the other side of the room. "I want that."
Yako went over to her desk where the little Neuro bird doll she had made for her home economics class' final sewing project was. "Here you go," she gave it to him.
Neuro hugged the soft plushie and cuddled under the blanket. He wasn't tired, but he was comfortable. Then Puzzle did something bad, she pulled down the curtains, turned off the lights and went away. "Puzzle!"
Yako rushed back to the room, turning on the lights, "what's wrong?"
"Bad Puzzle, making it all dark, I don't like the dark!" Neuro pouted, big green eyes glowing.
"Aw, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you disliked the dark," Yako apologized, doing her best to hide a laugh, which luckily went unnoticed. "I'll leave the light on."
"Leave the light on and stay, your master orders it!" Neuro pointed at the empty space on the bed next to him, "here Puzzle, sit, stay, good girl."
Yako obeyed without complaints and little Neuro used her as a pillow and closed his glowing emerald eyes.
Just when Yako thought Neuro had fallen asleep, he spoke, "Puzzle, when I'm old enough, I'm marrying you," then he drifted off to sleep for real.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I don't own Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro. There's a reference to the Regnoran Galaxy RPG in Mystery 44. In Mystery 48 Neuro's "okay" is a reference to Mindy's "okay, I love you, bye-bye," from Animaniacs. Yako's gorilla kidnap experience in Mystery 49 is a reference to the first Mario game, "Donkey Kong", where he was called Jumpman and had to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong.