Copyright Notice:This story is an original work by Muntasib_Ihshan789. All rights reserved. Do not copy or redistribute without permission.
4th December, 2023
Japan's Tokyo
Yun Shuhi, a 16-year-old high school student, was enjoying her pastime during her year-end break. Staring at the winter sky from her balcony. Just looking at the clouds might be weird to others. But it was calming to Shuhi. She felt a strange sort of joy as she watched the clouds move slowly. She occasionally saw shapes in them. A ship, a dragon, and a bird soaring through the skies. While she was doing it, she felt like the entire world was silent.
Her odd habit was never questioned by her parents. She is often referred to as lazy by her teachers. To her family, Shuhi was just a quiet, young girl with a unique way of seeing the world.
Her father was a bank officer. His life was all about numbers and schedules. But once in a while, his friend Paul Loren, who is a detective, visited them.
Paul treated Shuhi in a friendly way. He often shared stories from his job by turning his cases into puzzles and riddles. Sometimes they were funny. Sometimes they were strange. But Shuhi could usually solve them.
One time, Shuhi was able to solve a problem. Paul laughed and told her,
"Wow! You really are quite the genius!"
She still remembered it.
Another time, Paul brought up a theft case, just for fun. Shuhi suggested an idea which he never thought of. The idea turned out to be useful. Paul followed her logic and used it in the real investigation. The case was solved successfully.
On this cold December day, Paul came to visit again. He arrived without warning, wearing his usual long coat, with a friendly face. Shuhi's father welcomed him like always.
Shuhi was in her room, upstairs. when she heard voices downstairs. Curious, she walked into the living room.
"Hi, Shuhi! How are you? Paul smiled at her.
"I'm all right, uncle. How about you?" She replied.
"All good. But this time, I've got something you can't solve." He said.
"You always say that. Don't you have anything new?" Shuhi said.
Suddenly Paul's expression changed. He became serious.
"This time, I promise… it's different."
Shuhi's curiosity instantly woke up. It looked like the thing he was going to tell wasn't going to be simple. Not like a joke this time.
"It's a murder case," Paul said quietly.
Shuhi felt a strange type of feeling. Murder? She thought.
"What's the story this time?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.
Paul looked at her with sharp eyes. "You know the rule, Shuhi. I'm not dragging you into any of my mess."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," she said quickly. "I'll just treat it like a game, like always."
He leaned back in the chair and began to explain.
"There have been four murders. First one on 11th October, second on 19th October, third on 23rd October, and the last one on 21st November."
He told her a few more things which are small details, like the time of death, locations etc.
Shuhi listened carefully. Her mind started to connect the dots.
"Four victims… dates spread out but not random… was there a pattern? Were the victims connected? What about the locations? What did the killer leave behind? Did Paul tell me everything, or was he testing me?"
She stared at the floor, deep in thought.
But nothing clicked.
The dots didn't connect. There was no clear answer. No clever twist to spot.
"I…. I don't know," she finally responded with a confused and frustrated face.
"See? Told you." Paul said smilingly.
Shuhi sat in silence.
Paul later did some gossip with Shuhi's father. Meanwhile, Shuhi served him a cup of green tea.
About half an hour later, Paul left their house.
She couldn't solve it. For the first time, she had failed. It wasn't just a puzzle this time. It was real. And she couldn't crack it.
"Why couldn't I do it? Did I miss something? Or… am I just not good enough?"
She wasn't used to failing in front of Paul.
That night, she couldn't sleep properly. Thoughts of the murder case were continuously bouncing in her head, keeping her awake at night.
"It's different this time."
The next morning, she woke up with half dead eyes and the face of a person with zero sleep. Not in a good mode either. Little headache could be felt. Maybe sharp minds actually need proper sleep or it will go dull.
After getting fresh and having breakfast, she started doing research.
She opened her laptop and started searching every source available to the public that she could think of. News, websites, crime forums, archived newspaper articles, anything that had information about the murders. She watched TV reports, read between the lines, wrote down every clue she could find.
It wasn't about impressing Paul anymore.
Now, she needed to solve it.
Even if it meant getting involved.
She needed answers.
Dead Logic © 2025 by Muntasib_Ihshan789 is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International