Curate, connect, and discover
The first clue Ankh's possession had Changed Things was something anybody would miss. The balcony and windows of the Izumi apartment, Shingo’s car, favourite spot to eat lunch, etc. Japan was a clean place and bird droppings are only something you notice when they’re present.
The second clue was odd, but a bird attacking the robber Shingo had been chasing through the park- well it was close to nesting season- the conclusion anyone would come to is that the robber came too close to the bird’s nest. Between the adrenaline of the chase, cuffing the man, and the planning of the paperwork ahead, well, no-one ever thought to wonder why Shingo was exempt form the bird’s attack.
The third clue however, couldn’t be ignored or explained away.
It had been a long day, the latest in a sequence of long days, and it would be a long night as well. Shingo had not only missed lunch, but dinner as well, and wouldn’t be getting a break anytime soon to let him rectify the problem. A situation he lamented about out loud.
He found out that he had been overheard by more than his coworkers when not long after he spoke, a Tokyo raven- those eerily clever, oversized urban corvids- dropped off a bag of senbei, sold by a vending machine only few blocks away.
What if Ankh's title "King of the Birds" actually had some weight to it? With the King dead, the guy the King ended up posessing for a year seems as fitting a candidate for Regent until the King's ressurection right?
Honestly, even for a throw-away one-shot, I'm not that happy with this. Really needs a beta or co-author to punch it up I think.