Benimaru arrived back at the warehouse shortly without any issue. Everybody was still busy so nobody had realized he was gone, or if they had, they assumed it was for some other reason.
He spotted Derek near the entrance, finishing up a conversation with a couple of older dock workers. The two men walked away, and Derek just stood there for a moment, staring at his notebook with clear frustration on his face.
Benimaru walked over. "Derek, you got any useful information?"
Derek looked up and let out a heavy sigh. "Man... I got nothing out of these guys. It's pointless." He scratched his head, flipping through the pages of his notebook like he was hoping something useful would magically appear. "No leads, no motives... nothing. What about you?"
Benimaru hesitated. He had information...plenty of it actually. But none of that was something he could just share openly, not yet at least. It would raise too many questions he didn't have answers for.
"Same," Benimaru said. "Most people didn't see or hear anything useful. Just that Hideki was a good worker, showed up on time, and kept to himself."
"Great," Derek muttered, closing his notebook with more force than necessary. "So we've got a dead guy, no witnesses, and no motive. Genzo's gonna be thrilled."
Benimaru's eyes drifted back toward the warehouse. Through the open doors, he could see the forensic team still working methodically, one of them kneeling near the blood stains with tweezers. "What about Akari?"
Derek shrugged. "Haven't seen her in a while. She was talking to some of the supervisors earlier near the loading docks. Maybe she had better luck than we did."
. . .
Shortly after, Akari walked over with a bright smile on her face. "Guess who just got some good intel..." she said excitedly, barely able to contain herself as she pointed at herself with both thumbs. "Me!"
Derek's mood instantly seemed to cheer up. "We didn't, sadly..." he said with a slight frown, but then his expression shifted to curiosity. "So what did you find out?"
Akari pulled out her own notebook, flipping it open. "So, turns out Hideki was actually a serious gambler. Like, really serious. He'd play cards with the other dock workers during breaks, bet on dice games after shifts, that kind of thing. And apparently, he was really good at it too...even beating his supervisors a few times, which didn't make him too popular with management."
She tapped her pencil against the page. "So I'm thinking, maybe Hideki had a few bad loss streaks recently. Racked up a pretty huge debt to the wrong people and couldn't pay it off. And decided to make an example out of him."
Derek nodded slowly, processing that. "That... actually makes sense. A lot more sense than 'random murder,' at least."
"Right?" Akari said, looking pleased with herself. "It's just a theory, but its a lead."
Benimaru stayed quiet and just nodded along. He was partially surprised at the girl's information-gathering ability, that she'd managed to piece together a decent theory just from talking to the supervisors and dock workers.
But then again, he'd found all this out way before her.
Still, Akari had done solid work for someone with no leads to start from.
"Good job," Benimaru said simply.
Derek nodded, agreeing with Benimaru. "So how did you find out he was a gambler? I asked around and nobody told me that," he said, like he was trying to figure out what he'd done wrong so he could apply it to his own skills next time.
Akari placed a finger on her lips with a smile. "I can't tell you—trade secret. But all you have to do is just ask questions outside the box."
Derek fisted his palm and made an "Ah..." face, like he was getting at what Akari was putting down, even if he didn't fully understand it yet.
"Alright, we should probably tell Genzo this," Benimaru said, gesturing toward the warehouse.
Everybody agreed and headed inside. They found Genzo talking to a few other Marines near the cordoned-off area, his cigarette still dangling from his lips as he gestured at something on a clipboard one of them was holding.
Noticing the three recruits approaching, Genzo said something brief to the Marines he was speaking with, then waved them off. He turned toward Benimaru, Derek, and Akari, gesturing for them to come over with a lazy flick of his hand.
"Well?" he said flatly, taking a drag from his cigarette. "Please tell me one of you found something useful, because this scene's given us next to nothing."
They nodded, and Akari walked forward and handed him the notebook she'd written her findings in, filled with notes from the workers and supervisors intell.
Genzo grabbed the notebook and quickly looked over it, his eyes scanning the pages. His usual disinterested expression shifted slightly—not quite a smile, but something closer to approval. He flipped through a couple more pages before closing it and looking back at the three of them.
"Good work, all of you," he said, looking at each one of them in turn. "I think you guys have more than proved yourselves to me. This is quite useful information, and it gives us a lead to work with. Thank you."
They all nodded once more.
Genzo took another drag from his cigarette and exhaled slowly. "I guess that'll be it for today. You guys can use the rest of the day off doing whatever you want. I'll fax this information over to Warrant Officer Kurosawa and see where we go from here."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison.
Genzo waved them off casually. "Go on. Get out of here before I change my mind and make you do paperwork."
Derek didn't need to be told twice. He turned and started heading toward the exit immediately, clearly relieved to be done for the day. Akari followed after him with a satisfied smile on her face.
Benimaru lingered for just a second longer, watching Genzo flip open the notebook again and study Akari's notes more carefully. Then he turned and followed the others out.
As they walked away from the warehouse, Akari stretched her arms above her head and let out a satisfied sigh. "So, what are y'all gonna do with your free time?" she asked.
Derek shrugged. "Probably sleep. I'm exhausted from all the running this morning."
Benimaru hummed over the thought for a moment. "Train."
Immediately, both Akari and Derek stopped walking and turned to look at him with weirded-out faces.
"You're a training freak..." Akari said.
Derek already seemed to know Benimaru was like that for some reason and only sighed, shaking his head. "Of course you are."
Benimaru shrugged. He honestly didn't have anything better to do, and even if he did, it probably wouldn't be productive. Plus, he also had to figure out a way to get antibiotics from the medical barracks when the cabinet was locked. That was going to require some planning or at least a good excuse to be in there without raising suspicion.
"What?" Benimaru said. "We got the afternoon off. Might as well use it."
"Most people would use free time to, you know, relax," Akari said, giving him a look like he'd just said something insane.
"I relax by training," Benimaru replied flatly.
Derek groaned. "You're gonna burn yourself out, man."
"I'm fine."
"That's what people say right before they collapse from exhaustion," Akari added.
Benimaru didn't say anything and just kept walking.
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. . .
Benimaru sat in the mess hall cafeteria, mechanically eating his meal without really tasting it. The food was decent enough, some kind of stew with bread on the side, but his mind was elsewhere, working through the problem he'd created for himself.
He needed to get antibiotics. A full bottle of them. And he needed to do it without raising suspicion.
The issue was, he couldn't just ask for them. Without a valid medical reason, Dr. Haku wouldn't prescribe them to him. Either way, he wouldn't get the antibiotics, and his deal with Riku would fall apart before it even started.
Which meant he'd have to steal them.
But that presented its own problems. The cabinet where the pills were stored was locked. He'd seen Dr. Haku unlock it with a key from her pocket. There was no way he could get in there without causing a loud ruckus and breaking the lock would alert everyone in the building, and he'd be caught immediately.
If he wanted to do this, he'd need help. Someone who could either pick the lock quietly or distract Dr. Haku long enough that he could steal the bottle of antibiotics, without getting noticed.
Benimaru took another bite of his food, chewing slowly as he considered his options.
Then, as if on cue, Troy walked over with a tray in his hands.
"Yo," Troy said casually.
Upon seeing Troy, Benimaru smiled.
Troy was about to set down his tray and take a seat when he suddenly stopped, a strange bad feeling washing over him for no apparent reason. He looked at Benimaru's expression and immediately knew something was up.
"What...?" Troy asked slowly, suspicious now.
"Can you do me a favor?" Benimaru asked, his tone innocent.
Troy hesitated for a moment, his instincts screaming at him that this was a trap. But ultimately, he sighed and agreed. "Sure... what's it about?" he said, uncertain if that was the right choice or not.
Benimaru's smile widened even further. "Nothing much... but you're definitely not going to like it."
And that's when Troy realized where the bad feeling had come from, and immediately regretted asking why.
. . . .
"Ow! Ow!" Troy winced as Dr. Haku applied an ointment to his cheek.
"Stay still," she said, her tone clinical but not unkind.
Benimaru stood behind Dr. Haku, watching the scene unfold. He gave Troy a thumbs-up for agreeing to the plan. And the plan was simple: Benimaru would punch him in the face hard enough that Troy would need to get it looked at by Dr. Haku. Sure, Benimaru could've faked an injury himself or come up with some other excuse, but he needed a reason for Troy to be in here that would make sense and keep the doctor's attention occupied.
'Keep her distracted,' Benimaru mouthed silently to Troy, who just looked at him with an annoyed expression but ultimately nodded.
"So, Dr. Haku... are you married?" Troy said, his voice a little too casual.
Dr. Haku paused for just a second, clearly a little shocked and confused by the sudden personal question. "No... no, I'm not," she said, continuing to apply the ointment.
Troy made an exaggerated frown. "I mean, a beautiful woman like you should have a husband by now."
Dr. Haku chuckled softly. "Thank you, but sadly no man has come up to me yet."
Benimaru questioned Troy's distraction attempts, like out of everything he could've done, flirting with the doctor was what he went with? but he used the opportunity anyway. He quietly walked over to the medical cabinet. Since it was already open from Dr. Haku unlocking it earlier to get the ointment, Benimaru carefully pulled the door wider and scanned the rows of bottles inside.
It was a bunch of medical terminology he didn't understand, but then his eyes landed on a bottle labeled simply "Antibiotics - Broad Spectrum." He immediately grabbed it, slipped it into his sock, and pulled his pant leg down over it to cover the bulge. He quietly closed the cabinet door and headed back to his position behind Dr. Haku.
"Well, you know there's always me," Troy said with a bright, confident grin.
Dr. Haku chuckled even more, clearly amused now. "You're too young for me... maybe when you reach your late twenties, you can give it a try again."
She finished applying the ointment and stepped back to examine her work. "There. You should be fine. Just don't get hit in the face again."
Troy gave her his best charming smile despite the bruise forming on his cheek. "I'll try my best, Doc."
Benimaru cleared his throat. "Thanks for taking care of him, Dr. Haku."
She glanced at him briefly and nodded. "Of course. That's my job." Then she looked back at Troy. "You're free to go. Just come back if the swelling gets worse."
"Yes, ma'am," Troy said, standing up.
The two of them left the medical barracks together, walking in silence until they were far enough away that nobody could overhear them.
Troy immediately turned to Benimaru with an incredulous look. "Did you seriously just make me flirt with the doctor while you stole medicine?"
Benimaru shrugged. "Hey, I never told you to flirt with her, did I?"
"That's not the point!" Troy hissed, rubbing his sore cheek. "You punched me! In the face! For real!"
"You agreed to it."
"I didn't think you'd hit me that hard!"
"I needed it to look convincing," Benimaru said flatly.
Troy groaned and dragged a hand down his face. "I hate you so much right now."
"Thanks for the help," Benimaru said, patting him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah... you owe me big time for this."
. . . . .
TO BE CONTINUED...
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