Sunday: 29th November: 14:33:05

Sunday

29th November

14:33:05

“So that’s what was going on?”

Naoki wondered what the officer had got from his retelling.
After experiencing, and supposedly instigating the events in the neighbourhood gym enough to be out here on a questioning trip to the police box, the longer he had talked, the less he himself understood.

When the man started laughing, Naoki felt his cheeks grow hot.

Nonsense. Naoki could’ve grieved.

This whole day has been nothing but nonsense.

A day that was half-over, now. If he had any intention on following through on his promise to Ms. Senzaki, then…

He’d need to start building up speed, now.

“Still, I have to say. Since when’d Ayase go soft enough for folks to get their knickers in a twist over some screaming?”

At some point during his account, though, the two men had relaxed enough to peal away from his sides. The other, younger officer took off to answer a call for another case, and rather than an anchored escort Naoki found himself trying not to get caught up in the stroll of the older man.

“A couple of stupid young guns like you got no business being quiet at the gym.” He said.

“Thank… You? Sir.” Between the inner tumble of half-baked plans he was grasping at and the papery voice of the man that had already leapt halfway to nostalgia, Naoki didn’t know what to make of the situation. He focused on walking ahead, half-wishing that he’d gone with the younger officer instead.

The apartments and hemmed-in small businesses were finally starting to fall aside, though they were still moving with all the urgency of a cloud.

Even so, Naoki felt no more at home among the signs of the city turning back to commercial-retail zones. The last of the high-rise buildings going by, apparently the best Adachi city had to offer, only bore a reminder that jetted through the fuzz and water clogging, swirling in Naoki’s mind.

100k.

100k, Katsumada.

The officer showed no signs of speeding up, even as they rounded the corner in sight of a small building, marked with bold ‘KOBAN’ lettering out front.

Naoki was loathe to hurry the man who might shorten, or otherwise greatly extend the next stretch of time he was about to spend at this place depending on what his mood was. He had to reframe their slow walk up to the police box as a mental endurance exercise to not fold under the agony.

More concerning still, was that there was someone already waiting outside, glancing their way from under a hood.

At last, Naoki prickled. He’d been backed into enough of a corner that he wasn’t about to let his appointment, if he could even call it that, go to anybody else.

He knew which adjustments to make so that wouldn’t happen. He turned to the officer, who was gazing around peacefully, who hadn’t yet noticed the other figure.

“How long have you been in the force, sir?” He asked.

“Oh—” The man misplaced his cap, stroking his hair back.

His impulse to reminisce overtook any surprise at Naoki’s question by a landslide.

“Well… Must be thirty-odd years now. Rode the bubble up while I was training, and came out of the academy right when it burst. I wasn’t always in Ayase, y’see. Met a girl here, and found out about a pack of boys who’re giving her trouble… Lost my badge after brutalising the lot of ‘em one night, and regained it with honors when we realised a couple of ‘em had some connection to another ghastly case… Well, she hasn’t divorced me yet, so maybe heroism’s still good for something!”

Naoki was a little taken aback. He hadn’t asked for a full biopic, but with nobody else to ask him, the officer indulged himself with a bark of laughter, and so Naoki indulged him.

“Strangely, since finding the worst of it, all we get are petty fights round here. Maybe that’s why the neighbours really are getting soft! Peace and quiet… What’s the obsession, eh? Not that I mind it, mind you. But to think these ‘loud boys n’ men at the gym’ reports are the most excitement we’ve seen in a while…”

So that’s why you’re going out of your way for this. Naoki had to admit, a little internal sigh felt like the only right reaction.

“Well, we’re always happy to provide some entertainment.” Naoki replied. “Only next time…”

“—You won’t be getting any fee on my salary.” The officer couldn’t hold back a laugh. “I’ll tell ya’, though. Between the reports I heard about the actual incident and all this, I’ve not had this much fun on the beat in years! So maybe do come back sometime.”

“Hah. Sure.”

Part of Naoki resented ‘incidents’ coming within earshot, eyeshot, and definitely mouth-shot of him. A larger part of him resented the other words the man had conjured, or at least the sting that the word ‘fee’ left on his soul.
But the biggest part of him of all was hell-bent on making the final steps into the doorway of the police box now, without any more incidents.
More importantly, without any more delay.

“We’ll be right with you,” The man waved to the figure outside as he noticed them, and strolled on inside with a chuckle and a wave to welcome Naoki first.

Yes!!

He hoped to God that nobody noticed him silently pump his fist at his side, but it was true that relief flooded him as quickly as the warm air conditioning brought a brief prickle of comfort over his body. Still tightly-fitted in breathable gym clothes, Naoki felt all the more conscious of a celebratory flex bringing attention to himself.

Thankfully, the older officer’s eyes sparkled too bright with the shine of the past to notice.
“Let’s see, now. We have calls on record, so part of due diligence is getting your comment, and that’s it, really. Write out a brief report of what your side of the story is, and I’ll handle the rest, son.”

“Are you sure?” Even if he’d rather not push his luck while the clock was ticking, Naoki’s headache would grow far worse for far longer if he got followed up on with this.

“No worry! I’ll vouch for your character myself.” The man clapped Naoki on the tricep, perhaps as much a means of making sure it was real as offering solidarity. “Where you based, son? I’m guessing it ain’t Ayase, but I ought to know if the department there’d even dream of giving you any trouble.”

“I’m in your debt.” Naoki offered a deep nod. “At the moment I live in Minato.”

The officer barked again. “Then no worry at all! The sergeant in Minato’s a buddy. Not that he ain’t too busy dealing with night-time purse snatchings for a little noise complaint case to matter, you can never be too careful, eh?”

Smiling felt as careless to Naoki as letting out a loud laugh, but given the fact that he’d nearly grazed his head on the door into the police box, the smallness of the world was close enough in the moment for the reoccurring joke to land.

“Purse snatchings? Are those so common?” He asked, more as a follow-up punchline to nobody than the officer.

“Sure,” he answered anyway. “My buddy in Minato was telling me over drinks. Only witness reports, but word is that some poor fool lost 100k.”

“I see.”

Naoki nodded, listening, but he hadn’t really heard what the man’d said until after several seconds of processing.

That was when every muscular machination in Naoki stopped to a halt.

The smallness of the world wasn’t such a joke, anymore.

“Really.”

“I couldn’t believe it either!” The officer barked. “Ah… Y’don’t hear about that kind of thing often, that’s for sure. In fact— Oh. Can I help, miss?”

Suddenly, his face turned to the door that had stayed open behind Naoki.

As if being noticed was just as much a surprise to the figure who had apparently been standing by the entrance the whole while, she stood with a wide stare, her hood down, one of her hands reached halfway into, or out of, her pocket.

She was pure white. And, even though outside in the chill, sweating profusely to boot.

“Uh— Um…”

Hana took a half-step back, stammering.

“Um…”