Lolicon:

Simone’s Notes:

Lolicon, also Romanized as rorikon, is a slang portmanteau of the phrase "Lolita complex". In Japan, the term describes an attraction to young girls, or an individual with such an attraction. Outside Japan, the term is less common and most often refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein childlike female characters are depicted in an erotic manner. The phrase is a reference to Vladimir Nabokov's book, Lolita, in which a middle-aged man becomes sexually obsessed with a 12-year-old girl. The equivalent term for the sexualization of or attraction to young boys is shotacon. Some critics claim that the lolicon genre contributes to actual sexual abuse of children, while others claim that there is no evidence for this, or that there is evidence to the contrary. Several countries have attempted to criminalize lolicon's sexually explicit forms as a type of child pornography. Generally, lolicon is a term used to describe a sexual attraction to younger girls, or girls with underdeveloped secondary sexual characteristics. In other words, it can refer to actual or perceived pedophilia and ephebophilia. Strictly speaking, Lolita complex in Japanese refers only to the paraphilia itself, but the abbreviation lolicon can refer to an individual that has the paraphilia as well. Lolicon is a widespread phenomenon in Japan, where it is a frequent subject of scholarly articles and criticism. Many general bookstores and newsstands openly offer illustrated lolicon material, but there has also been police action against lolicon manga. There are also stores that specifically target the lolicon audience. The consumers are said to be white-collar workers in their 20s and 30s who do not complain about the high prices of lolicon merchandise such as figurines and accessories.

And so, the case began. The military began asking around for Stacey Beale. She was a normal girl so far. Stacey lived with her parents and had no siblings. The girl was a straight A student to in all of her classes. She had many friends and was a social butterfly.

“Did Stacey have any problems with anyone?” Havoc asked two of her friends. “Any enemies at all?”

“Oh no!” one of the girls said. “Everyone loved Stacey! She got along with everyone.”

“Any boyfriends or anyone she was seeing?” the lt. asked.

“No,” the other girl replied. “We would’ve known by now.”

“I see,” Havoc said at last.

“Anything else?” the first girl asked.

“No,” the lt. replied. “But let me know something when you can.”

“Okay,” the girls replied. Then they all parted ways. That afternoon, Private 1st Class Peyton Scott, Master Sergeant Addi Bailey, and Winry were all cleaning the apartment halls. The amber alert was all everyone could talk about. There many speculations to what happened to poor Stacey. Addi and Peyton were both angered by this case. Bailey understood perfectly because she was a victim of child molester too and a mother. She could not deal well with cases where children were the victims.

“What kind of sick bastard would do that to a little girl?!?” snapped out loud as she took down last week’s announcements. “Anybody that sees a child as a sex object should have their balls cut off and shipped back to their momma!” She began to tremble in anger as she remembered how her father raped her repeatedly in her youth. The master sergeant vowed to bring every pedophile to justice with the military.

“Yeah!” Peyton agreed. “When we catch this creep, I hope we all lock him away for eternality and give him the death penalty if that poor girl turns up dead!” Winry paused at those words. She had a sense of who was behind this amber alert. The mechanic wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt first.

“Wait,” Winry almost blankly spoke up. “What if we’re being too hard on the person who did it? Don’t we need to hear his side of the story first? Or at least give him the benefit of the doubt?” Peyton turned to Winry glaring at her coldly.

“Why?” she hissed. “He is scum! Monsters like that should never be allowed to see the light of day of ever again!” Winry just went quiet at those words. She just hoped Edward would turn himself in before he was really in trouble. The blonde mechanic didn’t know why, but she still cared about the alchemist. She still hoped that he would come back to the light again. But each day that passed proved that hope to be fading away. Edward was long gone now. His salvation was too exhausted now.

“HEY!” Peyton yelled out at two soldiers gawking at the women. “You guys have a little girl to find! Get off your asses and get to work!” She then chunked a poster right at them. The men ran off in fear doing so. Addi and Winry looked at her nervously. Peyton just looked at them in silence. She just went back to work. The other two women went back to work as well. Peyton was a ticking bomb at this point. It was better at all not to say anything to upset her at all.

Winry wasn’t the only one with suspicions about Edward. Roy had some questions for him as well. He noticed some disturbing things about the lt. col. Edward was always late for work. He seemed to have a charming yet sinister tone to him. The alchemist would disappear for nights at a time. Plus, there was that fallen tattoo on the left side of his neck. But lately, that had disappeared during the day. Everyone at Central HQ had the same things on their minds about him. But yet, no one stood up to ask Elric a single thing. Now that he thought about, each day Edward didn’t so up for a night shift, another girl would turn up dead the next morning. Once was just coincidence. Twice called for concern. More times seemed to be a red flag. That was it. Roy decided it was about time to ask Edward some questions.

The major general found his subordinate out in the lobby flirting with some sergeant girls. They seemed charmed in his every word. Usually, that didn’t call for alarm. But those girls could be his next victims. Mustang was lucky to know how to deal with situations like this. He walked up behind Edward quietly. The alchemist sensed him right away. He smiled in light annoyance.

“Excuse me ladies,” the lt. col. said aloud to his admirers. “But it seems General Mustang needs to talk to me for a moment.” Roy froze quick in his tracks. “How did he know I was here?” he thought. Roy kept his usual god-complex pride to keep from looking worried.

“Edward,” he said aloud. “I need to see you in my office right now.” The sergeants looked very surprised at Fullmetal.

“How did you do that?” one of them asked in shock. Edward just shrugged innocently.

“Oh,” he replied. “Just call in intuition.” Then, he walked away to his good old “friend” Roy. The girls just watched on in shock. Mustang had a bad feeling about Elric right away. He was at least getting Edward away from those girls. Both men made it to Mustang’s office. Roy stood down behind the desk.

“Sit,” he said to Edward seriously. The alchemist did so with grace. Roy stared him down coldly.

“Okay,” the lt. col. said in condescending tone. “I have some clue what this is about. I’ll save you the trouble. No, I am not involved with Stacey’s disappearance.” Roy kept looking him crossly. He didn’t believe him at all. Edward could see it in his eyes. The alchemist just shrugged at him.

“What do you want me to see?” he asked smoothly. “So if you don’t have anything to keep me here, I’ll just go now. Good day, sir!” Edward got up to leave.

“Sit down!” Mustang ordered. The lt. col. turned and stared right at him.

“And why should I?” he challenged. Mustang kept quiet for one second only.

“That mark on your neck,” he said aloud at last. Edward raised an eyebrow at him.

“What about it?” he asked.

“It’s gone,” Roy pointed out.

“Yeah,” Edward said. “So?” Mustang reached forward and wiped a spot on the right side of his neck. A little bit of the fallen mark was revealed. Roy drew back his finger and rubbed his thumb against it. He looked right up at his lt. col. It was just as he expected.

“You painted over the tattoo, didn’t you?” he asked. Edward glared at him.

“Yes,” he hissed. “And what of it?”

“You’re been hiding the mark, haven’t you?” Mustang hissed. “You’ve been lying about Stacey! You are in involved! You know where she is! Her family are worried sick about her and want her back!”

“Well, they can’t have her back!” Edward barked. Mustang didn’t need much with that to know that the monster gave him a semi-confession.

“What do you mean by that?” the general asked. Edward smirked at him coldly.

“She’s my toy!” he said out loud. “She is my little sex pet until I get tired of her!” Those words shook Mustang straight to the core. He began to think the worst for poor Stacey. This led to more questions about the missing girl. He reached forward and grabbed Edward right on the arm. The alchemist glared at him evilly like a demon possessed dog.

“Take your hands off of me right now!” he yelled.

“What did you do with her?” Mustang barked out. Edward jerked himself away right fast. His mood was even worse than before. Mustang had really pushed the button now.

“Why should I tell you?!?” Edward snapped. “She’s my slut and I can do as I like with her!”

“No, you can’t!” Mustang barked. “She is a human being!”

“She is my pet-slut!” Edward argued back.

“Tell me where Stacey is!” Mustang shouted. “Tell me where she is!” Edward snickered at him coldly.

“She’s in a place where she can be free and happy forever!” he replied in a twisted way. Then he headed out of Mustang’s office. The major general stared at him in angry shock. His suspicions were confirmed. Edward had changed and in a bad way. Roy was now worried at what Fullmetal was capable of now. He really feared the worst for Stacey. It was as clear as day now. Mustang had to warn the military of Edward and try to rescue Stacey before it was too late. Time was ticking away now. And something told Roy that time was against the military now.