There were a total of 8 places the Olman family often visited.
As family, the places they often visited were their children's school, the park near their house – which swallowed them – and a shopping mall in district 3.
The other places however, were places Paul Olman's wife and children often visited personally.
His wife often visited a neighboring family's house, basking in social interaction between rich madams. And his children, still in education, were sent to either the library or a private tutor's house to study.
But there were two places out of their daily routine that they were fond of.
District 3 beach and kids' playground.
Because this case involved the nation's safety, espers were deployed in small groups to investigate these places along with members of Team Zero.
Cedric and Xain were deployed to different teams, while Ilyas was waiting on standby in the headquarters, in case any emergency arrived.
Standing in front of a kid's playground, I tapped my earpiece.
"This is Search Team 2. We have arrived at the site."
[Roger that, please inform us of any findings.]
I ended my report to the HQ over the radio and spread my senses to my surroundings.
Including me, there were a total of 3 A-Rank espers in my team and each of us was investigating different area of the playground.
"Captain! I think you need to see this."
One of my teammates called me over, finding something on the dome-shaped climber.
"This is… Signs of struggle?"
There was a claw scratch engraved on the surface. Judging by its shape, it's like a human with sharp, hard nails was scratching into it.
The traces of blood, along with chunks of flesh that were smeared over the dome and trailed on the ground below made it look like someone was trying to run away from something.
'So the mimic did visit this place.'
The blood – assumed to be from the victim – left its mark on the ground before stopping right in front of a tree, leaving a pool of blood behind.
But there's no corpse that could be found.
"Search other traces left behind in this vicinity and report it to me. If we don't find anything within the next 15 minutes, we'll widen our search area."
"Yes sir!"
I gave my order and reported to the headquarters. Unfortunately, no matter how good I was at manipulating blood, tracking someone just from their blood alone was impossible. Moreover, because snow had been falling since yesterday, quite amount of it had piled up – mixing the blood with moisture and making it harder for me to control.
'The weird part is, the trail completely stopped here.'
Looking at the amount trailing across the ground, the wound must be significant. Even if the victim managed to run away, either their footsteps or blood would leave a mark behind – especially on a layer of white snow like this.
There's a possibility that the one that got attacked was a healing esper that could heal their own wound. But even then, that still didn't explain the nonexistent footsteps.
The snowfall had stopped after dawn, and there were no signs of erased traces, so there's only one other possible explanation.
'The mimic might have already ate them.'
BZZTT!
The radio connected to the headquarters buzzed, followed by Shelly's voice coming through my earpiece.
[Ethan, we received a report about unusual death similar to the case you just reported. It's detected near the park often visited by Olman family members.]
'Is it possible that they can feel human emotions and copy their host's memory?'
Muscle memory that came from habit was more terrifying than people thought. The fact that these monsters came visit meant they still unconsciously thought about places they often visited when they were human.
SRRKK!
"Wait Shelly, I detected a presence."
Behind the tall trees surrounding the playground, something was moving around under the guise of shadow. I pulled out my dagger and signaled my team with my eye.
It bolted through the bushes, running away from us.
"Chase it."
My team immediately moved on my command. While they chased it from behind, I would cut its escape route from the front. Its speed was comparable to a cheetah, too fast for normal human but normal for an esper. And for an esper specializing in speed like me, this was a walk in the park.
BAM!
"RAGHHH!!"
I struck with a kick, sending the fleeing monster rolling on the ground. An inhuman howl-like scream came out from its mouth.
It was the boy mimic.
The once beloved son of Paul Olman had turned into a monster with its head vertically torn in half, dripping blood from its gap.
"Captain!"
With a shout from my team member, vines sprout out, tying the monster to the ground. It growled as it tried to escape but the binds were tight, leaving no room for it to break free.
"Eliminate him."
One of my team members drew his sword and raised it above his head. With no hesitation, he struck down-
SWISH!
"Please save me."
"!!"
But abruptly came to a stop.
Gone was the hideous monster with half-torn head, instead, in front of him was a child trembling in fear. The monster had turned back into a human child, begging them to save him as tears pooled in his eyes.
"Wha- What is this-"
"Please… save me."
The sword, almost touching the child's head trembled, the wielder's hesitation was evident. And that vulnerable moment was all it took for the monster to counterattack.
It tore through the vines with its claw, aiming for the hand of the human in front of it.
"Shit-"
But my team member was a beat too late to realize the sneak attack from the monster.
SLASH!
THUD!
A head and hand flew through the air as red blood spurted like a fountain. The body, separated from its head, quickly became limp.
"C-Captain…"
"Has its deception got into your head? That's no longer a human, it's a monster pretending to be human."
I scolded my teammate, it was dangerous of him to show hesitation in front of enemy like this.
'Seeking sympathy the moment its life is threatened, a classic move from a mimic.'
I had seen so many clichés like this in movies and media that it didn't faze me anymore. But this was the first case for them, so they still looked guilty after eliminating the threat.
I tapped my earpiece, reporting the result of our subjugation to the HQ.
[Elimination confirmed, please head to the mall if you don't find anything else there.]
"Understood."
Two more left, I just hope they didn't cause any more casualties.