Saturday, May 12th.
Having worked continuously for two weeks without a single day off, Ritsu slumped lifelessly in his office chair.
Thankfully, the number of cases requiring him to personally visit crime scenes had been relatively low these past few days, so things had actually been fairly relaxed.
Hopefully today would also pass without any cases, allowing him to slack off peacefully until the end of his shift.
Unfortunately, less than ten minutes after that thought crossed his mind, the desk phone on Hayasaka's desk rang sharply.
A bad feeling instantly welled up inside him.
"This is Hayasaka speaking. A case? Understood, we'll head over immediately."
Seeing Hayasaka walk toward him, Ritsu consciously stood up and extinguished the cigarette dangling from his lips. Narrowing his eyes into crescents, he asked:
"There's a case, right? Beika Town?"
"Yes. A homicide occurred in Beika 5-Chome. Looks like it's a poisoning case."
'Poisoning again? Then it was probably cyanide again.'
Ritsu now seriously suspected there was some underground operation secretly selling cyanide throughout Beika Town. Looking back on the poisoning cases he'd solved so far, at least seven out of ten involved cyanide.
"Oh. Let's go."
Hayasaka walked toward a desk near the entrance and called out to Takagi, who was still eating breakfast.
"Takagi, we're heading to the scene."
"Huh? O-Okay! Coming right away!"
Takagi hurriedly stood up and wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth. When he noticed Ritsu standing nearby, he immediately bowed.
"H-Hello, Inspector Onizawa!"
Why was Wataru Takagi here?
Confused, Ritsu asked, "What's he doing here?"
Hayasaka replied speechlessly, "Could you at least read the personnel transfer notices once in a while? Takagi's been in our division for three days already, and you're only noticing now?"
"Oh. I think I used that document to cover my cup noodles. It got dirty, so I threw it away."
Hayasaka rolled her eyes dramatically. She truly couldn't be bothered dealing with this utterly unreliable superior during normal hours.
The three arrived at the elevator entrance. Suddenly remembering something, she remarked,
"Inspector Onizawa, congratulations. You now have another person whose car you can freeload off."
"Oh? Takagi, you have a car?"
"Ah… yes. Inspector, don't you have one?"
Good question. He technically did own cars.
The problem was that neither of them could be driven under his current identity. As for motorcycles, he personally disliked wearing helmets but riding without one was illegal, so he had no interest in using one either.
Besides, riding in someone else's car was comfortable. Why bother driving himself?
"Yeah, I don't have one," Ritsu answered with a cheerful smile and complete confidence.
Takagi immediately began overthinking things.
'Could it be that Inspector Onizawa came from a really poor family background? So poor that even an inspector's salary wasn't enough for a car loan?
No wonder he worked so hard and always rushed to the front lines of investigations.
I really need to learn from him!'
"Inspector Onizawa, thank you for all your hard work!"
"…?"
Ritsu was completely baffled by the sudden statement. He simply waved his hand and said, "Well, since you think I work so hard, I'll freeload off your car today."
"Huh?"
There was actually a reason he hadn't chosen to ride in Hayasaka's car today.
Three months had already passed since entering the Metropolitan Police Department, yet he still hadn't seen the other two former friends who should also be working there.
It continued bothering him.
So he wanted to use the simple-minded Takagi to ask about Wataru's recent situation. He also wondered how things were going with the girlfriend he himself had never gotten the chance to meet.
Thinking back to the promises they had made during police academy days, like everyone going together to meet the class leader's girlfriend.
None of those promises had been fulfilled. In the end, the only promise that came true was, everyone stayed alive.
Well… Except they didn't know that he himself was still alive.
When they arrived at the parking garage, they found a black Nissan Skyline 25GT Sedan parked there.
After opening the car door, Takagi laughed awkwardly.
"Inspector, please wait a second while I move the stuff from the passenger seat to the back."
Watching Takagi frantically shove the clutter piled on the passenger seat into the rear seats, then thoughtfully wipe down the seat with a towel, it was obvious the young detective lived alone.
And obviously didn't have a girlfriend.
"It's an honor to become the first passenger to sit in your front seat." After getting into the car and finally stretching out his long legs comfortably, Ritsu smiled.
"And it's an honor for me to have you riding shotgun, Inspector! Hahaha!"
Takagi's smile looked incredibly honest and goofy. It was obvious he was a sincere, upright, soft-hearted man with hidden inner strength.
And since he was Class Leader Wataru's close friend, Ritsu already viewed this junior through rose-colored glasses. Idly playing with the cigarette pack in his hand, Ritsu asked,
"Takagi, you used to be in Robbery-Homicide Unit Two, right?"
"Yeah. My direct superior used to be Senior Detective Date."
The moment Takagi brought up Wataru, he immediately began rambling uncontrollably. Pride appeared on his face as he said,
"Date-senpai was my instructor. He taught me a lot and was an incredibly good senior officer. I remember once during the arrest of a robbery suspect, my carelessness allowed the criminal to escape. He gave me a really harsh scolding so I'd remember the lesson."
"If a criminal notices your weakness, he'll keep pressing harder and harder. Waiting for you will be the same terrible ending my father had."
The words his senpai had once said surfaced in his mind, along with the serious expression he wore back then.
Ritsu smiled faintly and looked out the window. 'Class Leader… I've become strong now. But I still can't uphold this so-called justice.'
Noticing the silence from the passenger seat, Takagi realized he had been talking too much.
"Sorry, Inspector. I tend to ramble. If I'm bothering you, I can stay quiet."
"No need. I like listening." Turning toward Takagi, Ritsu suddenly asked, "You don't have a girlfriend, right?"
"Huh?" Takagi froze briefly before blushing awkwardly.
"Y-Yeah… not yet."
"Then your senior, Date, definitely has a girlfriend, huh?"
"Yeah! I actually had the honor of meeting her recently. She's a beautiful mixed-race woman!"
Takagi completely failed to realize that Ritsu was fishing for information. Smiling brightly, he continued,
"If I remember correctly, Date-senpai's girlfriend teaches English at Teitan Elementary School. I think they're planning to get married next year!"
"Married? Then I guess they're already engaged."
"Yep. I think it was February 7th? Date-senpai told me he successfully proposed and finally gave away the ring he'd been carrying around inside his police notebook."
February 7th. The day of his own "death."
The same day he had shoved Class Leader away from the accident.
So after avoiding the accident that might have killed him… He really did manage to seize his own happiness properly.
'That's good, Class Leader.'
"That's nice."
"Hm?" Takagi blinked curiously.
"Inspector, don't you have a girlfriend? You're young, successful, tall, and handsome. There must be tons of people chasing after you, right?"
Critical hit.
"I don't have a girlfriend. Let's not discuss such depressing topics anymore. We're almost at the crime scene. This is your first time dealing with a homicide case, right? Don't throw up the breakfast you just ate."
"…I probably won't?"
With the conversation over, Ritsu had already obtained the information he wanted. Looking down at the cigarette pack in his hand, he reflected on Takagi's earlier words.
Maybe he really was naturally incompatible with romance.
Back when he was a student, he thought he was too young and had no interest in relationships. After graduation, he did occasionally think about dating… Yet he never once took even a single step forward.
Actually, being single for twenty-five years probably wasn't other people's fault.
It was entirely his own problem. He curled his lips into a self-deprecating smile.
As someone walking within the abyss, survival itself was already his highest priority.
Who had the time to think about dragging someone else into his mess? To him, emotions like love were simply far too luxurious.