New Vogue Children

Chapter I

Inner Universe

Another murder has been commited in that part of Tokyo. As gore as the five others. This time, it was a woman, a woman who's stomach was wide open, eated by an unknown animal. The legists said, deducing by the traces the teeth left, that the animal which was killing all thos people was a kind of monkey. But that's was what they thought when they first saw this. At this step of the investigations, they were still comparing the bodies of the different victims. Four, until now. Always the same injuries : some claw traces, bites, the skin has been torn by some teeth holded by a powerful jaw. What kind of monkey would do that kind of murder ? What kind of monkey would be that aggressive ?

They asked to many zoo park in the region, but any of them has lost any of their primates. They even asked to some circus, but is has been as vain as the previous step. Where did this animal coming from ? What had leaded it to Tokyo ? And what was making it acts like this ?

His fingers passing on his chin, Inspector Juka was thinking while walking around the cadaver half eaten. Those murders which seem most likely not to stop had driven him to wonder about the links that the victims may have. After all, all those deaths may be the act of a serial killer who had decided to be different from the others. But all made believe that none of the killed known another one, no link between them but the fact that they all lived in that part of the city. But if he was keeping this idea, he must find what makes that a human uses a monkey to kill random people around here... In this case, he would have prefered the idea of a crazy monkey.

"Anything new from the lab about the feet prints we found previously ?" he asked to a co-worker.

"Not really, simply that they're almost all different from a place to another and that any of those belonged to the victims."

"This makes us closer of the hypothese of a murder, right ?" a third one said.

"Seems like it, Kazuno" Juka answered, looking like if he was losing hope. "And what about the bites, Tooru ?"

"I don't know, Jasmine wasn't sure, actually."

"Don't you want to stop calling him that way !"

"But he wants us to call him like this..."

"It's ridiculous... I still can't believe that as excentric as he is, he became legist !" he said, a bit more for himself than for the others.

Tooru nor Kazuno dared to give answer to that last sentence.

"Well... You all know what to do, take this one to him and find the one who did that. Fast ! I don't want that the federal police steals us the investigation !" he commanded.

Saying that, he left the place to go to his car. He had to come back to his office to fill some papers before going back home to see his wife, his sweet Yuko.

"Inspector ! Inspector ! Wait !" he heard in his back as he was going in his car.

He ignored it, it must has been one of those stupid journalist.

"Please, wait !"

Too late, he shut the door. But the other one was stubborn and was now knocking on his window. He left his gaze and saw his journalist pin on the chest of the ashy blond and waved-haired one. Rolling his eyeballs, he opened the window.

"What do you want ?"

"I'm sorry to bother you. I'm Kamijo, reporter for the Tokyo Gazette. I would like to ask you some questions."

Juka looked at his watch.

"Okay, but make it fast, I have better things to do."

"Thanks" answered the journalist while taking and putting on a small cassette recorder in his pocket. "First of all, those murders are obviously linked, do you think that it may be the art of a serial killer ?"

"Nothing to confirm for the moment. It's a hypothese to conciderate, that's all."

"I see... Your investigastion seems not really to go on, the federal police may take control of it soon if it continues like this."

"The federal police would hit a wall too if it had that kind of investigation on the soulders."

"Why ?"

"Lacks of proofs, unfindable and unamable animal, the rare proofs we have seems to lead to nowhere, no zoo, no circus lost any monkey. We seem not to go on, but we can't go further !"

"Another reason to let this to the federal. They could clear that."

"If that please you ! Now excuse me, but I got some papers to fill in !"

He didn't let the reporter to answer, he hurryed to close the windows and started the car, leaving the other on the sidewalk, a satisfied smile on his lips.

His jouney as his work has been quite monotone. He was glad his working day was done and now only wanting to go home and be with his wife, hug her tightly, caress her round belly inside which was living his child...

Heals were clacking on the alluminium floor in the corridor. Someone was walking rapidly, Kaya seemed furious. He tried not to react when he heard the heavy robotic doors of the lab and his plateform shoes on the treated floor, they stopped right behind him.

"You told me that with what that one would have, I would be able to cook !" he shouted with his fake high-pitched voice so it seems more feminine.

Hora made as if nothing has been said.

"You saw what he had ! In it's mouth, as a simple hunting dog ?"

He heard the wet sound of something he couldn't describe falling on the ground. He turn himself face to where was coming the sound and saw an imprecise mass, pink and bloody, at the feet of the al vinyl-dressed one. It was remembering him of...

"Intestine !" shouted him again, still angryly.

Human intestine...

"Hum... seems like I made a mistake."

He got closer to those, fold himself over it to take and end between his thumb and his finger.

"Make sausages with it !"

"I don't like those and I really hope that you didn't seriously thought that I would empty this by myself ! "

He left his gaze on him and let slip what he was holding. He hadn't took the time to detail him when he first looked at him, as he usually does. So he did now : black shoes, very high heels, straps and glossy leather, spider web-shaped lace covering his legs, black too, long black velvet skirt, opened on his left leg, bordered in red, corset-styled top, in black vinyl, supposed to fit a woman's curves which he hadn't unless he filled the empty spaces, under it, another top, long-sleeved, same pattern as for his tights and long gloves, over the elbows, same fabric than his corset, one covered in blood, his hair was tightly curled, dressed in a elegant up-do, as he often did, even if it was taking hours to make, sometimes adding a diadem over all (Oh how he wished to be a princess or even a queen !) but not today, his lips were red and his eyes decorated with delicate black make-up contrasting with the milky whiteness of his skin. Delicious.

He walked next to him, trying not to touch the gift that the between-human-and-monkey-being brought them. He caressed him cheek after having removed his surgeon glove.

"I'll make something better the next time. I promise" the scientist said before he kissed him tenderly.

"That's always what you're saying..."

"Kaya... My work is hard, I thought you knew it."

"Yes, but--"

"Hush ! At least, admit that there had been an amelioration between the first one and the last one."

"Maybe, but they're still ugly and stupid ! I would like them to be more human..."
"I'm working on it... I promise that one day, the child that I'll give to you'll be perfect, on every points."

The effeminate smiled.

"But for the moment, I have some observation to do, to correct the points you hate. Where is he ?"

"He's dead" he said, bored, looking away.

"Again ?"

"Yes, again."

"But he survived shorter than Succubus !"

"What else may I do ? You probably mistaken one of your formula... !"

"Maybe..." he answered with scepticism.

"Don't look at me like this ! And give me something so I may wash my glove ! It's already drying."

Hora bends to lift up the intestines and put them into a bottle of formol. He drove Kaya to a sink so he may wash the blood he had on his glove, then he cleaned up the stained floor.

"You still haven't told me where Zetsubou was..."

"In the kitchen..." the transvestite sighs

The bio-scientist exited from the laboratory, the other following him a few steps farther. Once in the kitchen, he began to examinate the humanoid creature as Kaya stood beside him, his hands on his hips, looking like if he was thinking that time wasn't going on fast enough for him.

"You strangle him." Hora said on a neutral tone.

"What ?!" he faked to be surprised.

He showed him the violet bruises on the beast's hairy neck.

"You can't deny this..."

"So what ? What does it change ? It would be dead by now, one way or another. And it wasn't what I wanted it to be..."

"How do you want that my research improves if you kill the prototypes ?!"

Kaya crossed his arms on his chest, pouting. The scientist took the corpse as it would have been a real child and took the lab's direction so he can put it in that kind of refrigerators where dead bodies are keept at the morgue. He labeled it by the number six. And went back to the one for who he was creating those livings in the living room, faking to read a book.

"Kaya..." he said in a low voice, taking place beside him.

He put the book down and throw him a little bitchy look.

"You know that I'm doig all of this for you, because I know that you are bored when I'm not home and when I'm in my lab... But I love you and I want you to be happy... But if you're not helping me, it's really hard for me to please you... And you know that it ain't easy, basically..."

"If you really know that I'm that bored, take me to the restaurant tonight !"

"No" He answered abruptly

"Why ?" He said in the same way a kid would say it right after his parents had refused him to lend him the car. "We have nothing for diner since your stupid monkey brought home nothing but intestines !"

"Why ? You know this as well as everything else ! Your health is fragile and I don't want you to get even more sick !"

"But I feel better since a few weeks, and... Maybe that I would like to see some people" He sadly said.

"People from the outside aren't as nice as those you see on TV !"

"I'm pretty sure there are people like us, outside..."

"I'm going to the grocery store, I'll be right back."

"Okay..." He sighed, getting up to put his book back on the shelf and turn on the television.