Unexpected Twists
Jan. 9th, 2022 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Lost Judgment (spoilers until the end of ch 3 + some of the mystery club plot)
follow-up to Learning From the Master
Mystery: Why is Yagami-San Unhappy?
Chapter Summary: Amasawa and Yagami have a surprisingly helpful conversation.
Word Count: 2718
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Yagami/Kaito
Kaito doesn't appear in person in this part.
warnings: Yagami might be depressed, references verbal sexual harassment (because seriously kaito leave the poor lady alone she's just trying to do her job)and Yagami's worry that an underage girl might have a crush on him (does not actually happen i'm making this au if I have to to keep the children safe from that
Kyoko doesn’t realize she’s in trouble, at first. Yagami-san tracks her down between some of her morning classes. He doesn’t seem angry, or disappointed. Just his usual ‘friendly but kinda in a rush, except when he isn’t and is just staring at you, which is kinda intimidating’. “You wouldn’t happen to have time to swing by the clubroom at lunch today, would you?” he asks, and instantly she thinks it’s an update on one of their joint MRC cases.
“I can do that,” she promises, ignoring the interested glances and gossipy whispers of her classmates.
“Great. See you then.” A rare, genuine smile, and then he’s gone. And instantly the rest of the students are bombarding her, more or less wondering if the rumors are true. She does her best to ignore them.
It’s only when she actually goes, around lunchtime, that she realizes she might have been completely and utterly wrong. Yagami-san is staring into space, somewhat as usual, but it’s not the same ‘lost in his thoughts’ angst. It’s the intense focus he gets sometimes. His fingers are laced in front of him as he thinks. She has to clear her throat for him to glance up, and the smile is welcoming, but she feels a shiver run through her. This is a detective who has no problems interrogating a suspect should the need call for it. “Sit down, please.”
She does, barely able to swallow the gulp. Normally, she’s fairly fearless, but she really doesn’t want to disappoint Yagami-san.
“You got into my phone, didn’t you?” He’s direct enough he knows the truth, but he’s wanting to hear her actually confess.
She sighs, looking down. “Where did I mess up?” She might as well know. It could be important for later. And unfortunately, with her habit of speaking her thoughts aloud, there’s very little point in trying to pretend. She doesn’t always even catch when she’s doing it, though the bemused look he sends her way every so often is a slight clue.
“You were in a hurry, so you didn’t clear away all the fingerprinting powder. I wasn’t sure then, but the way you’ve been acting since then, with the glances and the tailing and the way’ve been avoiding asking me for anything lately—you’ve seen something you weren’t supposed to see, didn’t you?” So, he’d known. He’d known, and hadn’t confronted her until now.
Well, there’s no point in lying to him now. “I’m sorry.” She looks down, feeling deeply ashamed. It’s almost the most guilt she’s ever felt. Almost.
He sighs, but when she finally convinces herself to look up he appears…sympathetic? “I can’t say I don’t understand, but Amasawa-san, you can’t do things like snoop in people’s phones without consequences. You especially, because you don’t have the detective’s license or lawyer’s badge to cover you when you get caught—and you don’t have the experience to not get caught, at this stage. I’m just glad you did this to me, because I’m not going to sue you or worse.”
She blinks, blankly, and he sighs again. It’s a deeper, more painful sound this time.
“If you get caught snooping, say, by the Professor or the Neo Keihin gang, what do you think will happen? They haven’t held back before, and there’s an added threat for a woman at the hands of these types of criminals, especially when you haven’t learned the basics of self-defense. My current case is dangerous enough for me, let alone for a high schooler.”
He hadn’t quite been so explicit about the risks before. She eyes his face. It’d been easy enough to assume the scratches on his face were another of the rumored fights with the basketball students who wouldn’t stop trying to pick a fight with him, or maybe some of the local punks. With the ease he fights, though, it probably would have taken severe effort—maybe even effort with killer intent—to harm him like that. But then, she’d always…when investigating, it’s not like she didn’t think through these things. She’d gotten the gym teacher as backup when confronting a would-be creep, after all. Even so, she’d read enough books, that a disconnect occurred, where if the mystery appeared enough like a novel, she’d found it easy to not think about consequences like that. “I…you have a good point,” she responds, shaken. Maybe she would start looking into the martial arts schools in earnest, after all.
He frowns—apparently that hadn’t been the desired response. “I take my client confidentiality seriously. I know you won’t go spreading around what you’ve found; you’ve got a pretty good grasp of discretion yourself, at least when it comes to this. But if you won’t respect that, at least respect the fact that this current case is too dangerous to involve you.”
Wait. “What?” she asks. For once, it’s her turn to be bewildered. They stare at each other in stunned silence for an awkwardly long time. He’s hiding absolutely nothing about his expressions now, which would be fascinating if not for the fact that he looks like he’s slowly coming to a conclusion he really doesn’t like.
“Amasawa-san. What were you doing with my phone?” Kyoko spontaneously comes to the conclusion that, for once, Kento really, really was right, because this is unbearably awkward and she wants to turn invisible.
“Where should I even start?” she asks. It seems like Yagami-san caught on that the question was rhetorical, since he doesn’t even bother to try to answer it, merely crossing his arms (a defensive gesture, her reading about body language informs her). She sighs, and then, well, why not just lay out the facts? Surely if she can show him he would’ve come to the same conclusion… “You keep forgetting to eat. I’m pretty sure it’s a stress response, because when you remember you’re starving and hop down to the food court to eat practically everything there. You’re tired; you’re not sleeping well. It’s not the case—or rather, cases, that are bothering you, because you just greet obstacles with obstinate joy. Ergo, that can only leave personal problems.”
He’s gaping at her with the same kind of astonishment he’d done when they first met (all right, he didn’t have his mouth open in shock at that point, and he’d been considerably more panicked, but he’s still living an echo of that moment), and she feels proud.
He shakes his head and gets back to the rebuttal. He likes that, but then, it’s probably something he doesn’t get to practice all too much, now that he’s no longer a practicing lawyer. “You’re overlooking adult problems like paying the rent or taxes,” he states reasonably, and—yes, she hadn’t considered that, but really probably should have. It’s too late for that now, though.
She thinks back over the first clues, and discovers she hadn’t really had the airtight case to begin with. “Er…yes. My counter evidence would involve what I saw on your phone, and the fact that you rarely smile.”
He fidgets, but nods for her to continue.
Might as well go all in. “You’re having a falling out with your friends here in Yokohama, though not Genda Law Office. There’s a local handyman that you can’t stand. And you’re in love with one Kaito-san.”
He tries to hide the hurt, though doesn’t quite manage it, up until the final sentence at which he chokes on nothing but air and falls into a coughing fit. Hurriedly, she stands up to get him water, which he accepts gratefully. “How?” he finally mouths at her, and she smiles. Time to show off.
“Well, most of them keep bugging you about Kuwana—unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much about him, only that he’s been here for ten years. You’re trying to gracefully dance around the fact that not everyone needs to be friends with everyone in their social circles, only none of your friends appear to be able to read ‘subtle’. Shirosaki-san promised backup if needed and was giving you advice, so you’re still on her good side, and from the way she phrased it I don’t think ‘backup’ just referred to herself. The last one…” She smiles. It’s kind of cute, in a way. “Subtle flirting probably doesn’t help if your crush can’t read it, and it’s actually endearing to know young teenage women aren’t the only ones putting little heart emoji next to their crush’s name in their phones.”
Yagami-san is pretty tan, so he has to be blushing pretty hard for that to show. “What the hell—” he begins, voice still a little raspy, before shutting up almost immediately.
“Also you’re not the only person, nor the only adult, to swear in my presence. It’s fine,” she adds, and he groans and massages his forehead.
“Yes, yes, you’re really clever and will make a brilliant detective sooner rather than later, but…” He shakes his head, not quite meeting her eyes. “…this is very inappropriate.” She’d called it, almost word for word. Now isn’t the time to start celebrating, however.
“I know,” she admits. “I shouldn’t have done it. It’s just…you’ve done so much for us, and all I’ve done is given you more of a workload, and it hurts to see someone I look up to as a mentor in so much pain. I’m not sure how I was going to help, only that I wanted to do so.”
The surprise hurts. Just like seeing his pain before. The thought that someone would want to support him being a surprise is heartbreaking.
He swallows thickly and looks away, and if he starts crying there will cease to be a dry eye in the clubroom. “You mean well, and I truly appreciate that. I really do. That, and your intelligence. But I really shouldn’t be talking about this with a teenager.”
She tries to look innocent. Is fairly sure that such an endeavor is completely unlikely to succeed, but it’s worth a shot. “I’m not asking about your sex life, or whatever. Don’t you want to help normalize same-sex relationships for at least this teenager?”
The laugh catches him unawares, but when he finally straightens, tears in his eyes, he looks a little happier. A little less on edge. “Not sure I’m showing you the best shot.”
She waves that off easily. “Please, I read mystery novels, not romances. More than anyone, I know that love isn’t the easy fairytale without drama everybody likes to pretend it will be.”
He nods and then frowns thoughtfully. “Maybe I’m too invested.”
Apparently, she’s not the only one to talk to herself, though this is the first time. “Is that…a bad thing?” she asks tentatively, because caring about a relationship does not seem to be a problem, from the outside.
He thinks through how to frame his next response. “I guess I’m taking it too personally? I have a habit of doing that, when most of it isn’t even in my control. Kaito-san really likes having a drinking buddy, and I’ve been staying uncharacteristically sober because I’ve been on the job more consistently here in Yokohama than I’ve been in a while. Honestly, I’ve probably been taking too many cases, trying to stay busy and not think about things, but…” He shrugs. He really had decided to go with honesty. Amazing, if unexpected. “Mostly, I guess I’ve…I’ve been taking him for granted.” A little more tentative. He probably doesn’t get to talk about his relationship much, particularly with the societal prejudices common to so many. “I got so used to him being supportive and always there for me, when he wasn’t, I kind of freaked out. We’re still feeling this thing out, because neither of us know what we’re doing.” He shrugs. “A large part of it is that Kaito-san isn’t exactly the type to think everything through, so he’s probably taking day-by-day decisions on ‘oh, is Tak still keeping me out, well, I’ll keep him out’, while I’m seeing the big picture and panicking about the state of our relationship.”
“Is he….not suited for detective work?” she asks, tentative, and Yagami-san snorts.
“Let’s just say I would not ask him to help plan a surprise party,” he explains, and yeah, that’s a pretty good reason. “He’s been getting better, but we’re new in town and I don’t want to have to dig out my suit just ‘cause we ticked off the local cops by stepping on too many toes.”
He seems a lot calmer now. “Actually, from his perspective, everything he’s doing makes perfect sense—he feels like I’m the one abandoning him, rather than the other way around. Just as I become unavailable, someone else has time to go on an all-night bender. He probably sees it as ‘I like these two guys, why aren’t they getting along’ and thinks I’m being uncharacteristically hostile toward Kuwana-san. And he’s so sure he’s not wanted that he isn’t bothering to try to help me balance things out when I just threw myself into work.”
When he lays it out like that… “Why don’t you like Kuwana-san?”
He sighs, playing with his jacket cuffs. “I guess who better to tell me if I’m acting like a spoiled child than a teenager?” He starts counting on his hand. “He picked a fight with me when we first met. He also actively interfered with the investigation by stopping me from interrogating some thugs, though I don’t think he knew what he was doing. More than anything, though, it’s…he’ll do something and it’s fine, I’ll do something and get yelled at, and more than anything every single time they’ve taken his side over mine.” He swallows. “It’s irrational, but it feels like I’m being replaced.”
The timing of her reading about this is…surreal. “Actually, I was just reading an article in a psychology blog about how jealousy is natural because from the days of early civilization, our bonds with others were incredibly important. Having a place in the tribe guaranteed you food, warmth, companionship. If that was put in jeopardy, your survival could very easily follow.”
He looks more amused than he should be at this, but just shrugs as she raises a questioning eyebrow at him. “You’d get along well with a friend of mine,” he explains, and that’s all he’ll say. For now, anyway. “He was also kind of harassing Sawa-sensei, which didn’t help, but he probably wasn’t actually thinking about cheating, because he doesn’t tend to think as long-term as I do. It was probably just more like ‘pretty lady, I’ll impress her and Tak’, coupled with him thinking he’s more suave than he is.”
“You should probably let him know, because ignorance doesn’t help women feel less terrified, but…maybe when he’d actually listen to you.” Because she’ll take him at his word that Kaito-san is a really good guy, in which case, he’d be deeply mortified that he was hurting someone like that.
He nods. “Absolutely. And if he’s…I don’t know, feeling insecure, that he’s not just gay, or whatever, it’s still no excuse.” And then he turns completely serious. “Thanks. That helped. That being said, don’t do this again. I mean it, just leave it as is. I’ll figure something out.”
She bows her head. “I’m sorry.”
“I appreciate that.” He hesitates, then adds, “…and this is by no means some sort of reward, but if you need an internship later, come find me, okay? You really just need experience and a finely tuned instinct on when to not interfere to make you a great detective.”
For a second or two, she’s speechless, and notices exactly when he observes the same because the earnest look is replaced by a smirk. That’s enough to get her brain to restart just to come up with a suitable response. “You’d really do that for me?”
“Well, I’m not just about to subject any other detective agency to the great Amasawa.” He’s tempted to just leave it at the smart-aleck response, but decides to continue. “Plus, I’m kind of invested now, and as successors go, I think you’ve got the potential.”
She bows deeper, voice trembling a bit as she thanks him, and he saunters out, just waving in response. “Have a great lunch!” Food for thought, really. Food for thought.
Lost Judgment (spoilers until the end of ch 3 + some of the mystery club plot)
follow-up to Learning From the Master
Mystery: Why is Yagami-San Unhappy?
Chapter Summary: Amasawa and Yagami have a surprisingly helpful conversation.
Word Count: 2718
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Yagami/Kaito
Kaito doesn't appear in person in this part.
warnings: Yagami might be depressed, references verbal sexual harassment (because seriously kaito leave the poor lady alone she's just trying to do her job)and Yagami's worry that an underage girl might have a crush on him (does not actually happen i'm making this au if I have to to keep the children safe from that
Kyoko doesn’t realize she’s in trouble, at first. Yagami-san tracks her down between some of her morning classes. He doesn’t seem angry, or disappointed. Just his usual ‘friendly but kinda in a rush, except when he isn’t and is just staring at you, which is kinda intimidating’. “You wouldn’t happen to have time to swing by the clubroom at lunch today, would you?” he asks, and instantly she thinks it’s an update on one of their joint MRC cases.
“I can do that,” she promises, ignoring the interested glances and gossipy whispers of her classmates.
“Great. See you then.” A rare, genuine smile, and then he’s gone. And instantly the rest of the students are bombarding her, more or less wondering if the rumors are true. She does her best to ignore them.
It’s only when she actually goes, around lunchtime, that she realizes she might have been completely and utterly wrong. Yagami-san is staring into space, somewhat as usual, but it’s not the same ‘lost in his thoughts’ angst. It’s the intense focus he gets sometimes. His fingers are laced in front of him as he thinks. She has to clear her throat for him to glance up, and the smile is welcoming, but she feels a shiver run through her. This is a detective who has no problems interrogating a suspect should the need call for it. “Sit down, please.”
She does, barely able to swallow the gulp. Normally, she’s fairly fearless, but she really doesn’t want to disappoint Yagami-san.
“You got into my phone, didn’t you?” He’s direct enough he knows the truth, but he’s wanting to hear her actually confess.
She sighs, looking down. “Where did I mess up?” She might as well know. It could be important for later. And unfortunately, with her habit of speaking her thoughts aloud, there’s very little point in trying to pretend. She doesn’t always even catch when she’s doing it, though the bemused look he sends her way every so often is a slight clue.
“You were in a hurry, so you didn’t clear away all the fingerprinting powder. I wasn’t sure then, but the way you’ve been acting since then, with the glances and the tailing and the way’ve been avoiding asking me for anything lately—you’ve seen something you weren’t supposed to see, didn’t you?” So, he’d known. He’d known, and hadn’t confronted her until now.
Well, there’s no point in lying to him now. “I’m sorry.” She looks down, feeling deeply ashamed. It’s almost the most guilt she’s ever felt. Almost.
He sighs, but when she finally convinces herself to look up he appears…sympathetic? “I can’t say I don’t understand, but Amasawa-san, you can’t do things like snoop in people’s phones without consequences. You especially, because you don’t have the detective’s license or lawyer’s badge to cover you when you get caught—and you don’t have the experience to not get caught, at this stage. I’m just glad you did this to me, because I’m not going to sue you or worse.”
She blinks, blankly, and he sighs again. It’s a deeper, more painful sound this time.
“If you get caught snooping, say, by the Professor or the Neo Keihin gang, what do you think will happen? They haven’t held back before, and there’s an added threat for a woman at the hands of these types of criminals, especially when you haven’t learned the basics of self-defense. My current case is dangerous enough for me, let alone for a high schooler.”
He hadn’t quite been so explicit about the risks before. She eyes his face. It’d been easy enough to assume the scratches on his face were another of the rumored fights with the basketball students who wouldn’t stop trying to pick a fight with him, or maybe some of the local punks. With the ease he fights, though, it probably would have taken severe effort—maybe even effort with killer intent—to harm him like that. But then, she’d always…when investigating, it’s not like she didn’t think through these things. She’d gotten the gym teacher as backup when confronting a would-be creep, after all. Even so, she’d read enough books, that a disconnect occurred, where if the mystery appeared enough like a novel, she’d found it easy to not think about consequences like that. “I…you have a good point,” she responds, shaken. Maybe she would start looking into the martial arts schools in earnest, after all.
He frowns—apparently that hadn’t been the desired response. “I take my client confidentiality seriously. I know you won’t go spreading around what you’ve found; you’ve got a pretty good grasp of discretion yourself, at least when it comes to this. But if you won’t respect that, at least respect the fact that this current case is too dangerous to involve you.”
Wait. “What?” she asks. For once, it’s her turn to be bewildered. They stare at each other in stunned silence for an awkwardly long time. He’s hiding absolutely nothing about his expressions now, which would be fascinating if not for the fact that he looks like he’s slowly coming to a conclusion he really doesn’t like.
“Amasawa-san. What were you doing with my phone?” Kyoko spontaneously comes to the conclusion that, for once, Kento really, really was right, because this is unbearably awkward and she wants to turn invisible.
“Where should I even start?” she asks. It seems like Yagami-san caught on that the question was rhetorical, since he doesn’t even bother to try to answer it, merely crossing his arms (a defensive gesture, her reading about body language informs her). She sighs, and then, well, why not just lay out the facts? Surely if she can show him he would’ve come to the same conclusion… “You keep forgetting to eat. I’m pretty sure it’s a stress response, because when you remember you’re starving and hop down to the food court to eat practically everything there. You’re tired; you’re not sleeping well. It’s not the case—or rather, cases, that are bothering you, because you just greet obstacles with obstinate joy. Ergo, that can only leave personal problems.”
He’s gaping at her with the same kind of astonishment he’d done when they first met (all right, he didn’t have his mouth open in shock at that point, and he’d been considerably more panicked, but he’s still living an echo of that moment), and she feels proud.
He shakes his head and gets back to the rebuttal. He likes that, but then, it’s probably something he doesn’t get to practice all too much, now that he’s no longer a practicing lawyer. “You’re overlooking adult problems like paying the rent or taxes,” he states reasonably, and—yes, she hadn’t considered that, but really probably should have. It’s too late for that now, though.
She thinks back over the first clues, and discovers she hadn’t really had the airtight case to begin with. “Er…yes. My counter evidence would involve what I saw on your phone, and the fact that you rarely smile.”
He fidgets, but nods for her to continue.
Might as well go all in. “You’re having a falling out with your friends here in Yokohama, though not Genda Law Office. There’s a local handyman that you can’t stand. And you’re in love with one Kaito-san.”
He tries to hide the hurt, though doesn’t quite manage it, up until the final sentence at which he chokes on nothing but air and falls into a coughing fit. Hurriedly, she stands up to get him water, which he accepts gratefully. “How?” he finally mouths at her, and she smiles. Time to show off.
“Well, most of them keep bugging you about Kuwana—unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much about him, only that he’s been here for ten years. You’re trying to gracefully dance around the fact that not everyone needs to be friends with everyone in their social circles, only none of your friends appear to be able to read ‘subtle’. Shirosaki-san promised backup if needed and was giving you advice, so you’re still on her good side, and from the way she phrased it I don’t think ‘backup’ just referred to herself. The last one…” She smiles. It’s kind of cute, in a way. “Subtle flirting probably doesn’t help if your crush can’t read it, and it’s actually endearing to know young teenage women aren’t the only ones putting little heart emoji next to their crush’s name in their phones.”
Yagami-san is pretty tan, so he has to be blushing pretty hard for that to show. “What the hell—” he begins, voice still a little raspy, before shutting up almost immediately.
“Also you’re not the only person, nor the only adult, to swear in my presence. It’s fine,” she adds, and he groans and massages his forehead.
“Yes, yes, you’re really clever and will make a brilliant detective sooner rather than later, but…” He shakes his head, not quite meeting her eyes. “…this is very inappropriate.” She’d called it, almost word for word. Now isn’t the time to start celebrating, however.
“I know,” she admits. “I shouldn’t have done it. It’s just…you’ve done so much for us, and all I’ve done is given you more of a workload, and it hurts to see someone I look up to as a mentor in so much pain. I’m not sure how I was going to help, only that I wanted to do so.”
The surprise hurts. Just like seeing his pain before. The thought that someone would want to support him being a surprise is heartbreaking.
He swallows thickly and looks away, and if he starts crying there will cease to be a dry eye in the clubroom. “You mean well, and I truly appreciate that. I really do. That, and your intelligence. But I really shouldn’t be talking about this with a teenager.”
She tries to look innocent. Is fairly sure that such an endeavor is completely unlikely to succeed, but it’s worth a shot. “I’m not asking about your sex life, or whatever. Don’t you want to help normalize same-sex relationships for at least this teenager?”
The laugh catches him unawares, but when he finally straightens, tears in his eyes, he looks a little happier. A little less on edge. “Not sure I’m showing you the best shot.”
She waves that off easily. “Please, I read mystery novels, not romances. More than anyone, I know that love isn’t the easy fairytale without drama everybody likes to pretend it will be.”
He nods and then frowns thoughtfully. “Maybe I’m too invested.”
Apparently, she’s not the only one to talk to herself, though this is the first time. “Is that…a bad thing?” she asks tentatively, because caring about a relationship does not seem to be a problem, from the outside.
He thinks through how to frame his next response. “I guess I’m taking it too personally? I have a habit of doing that, when most of it isn’t even in my control. Kaito-san really likes having a drinking buddy, and I’ve been staying uncharacteristically sober because I’ve been on the job more consistently here in Yokohama than I’ve been in a while. Honestly, I’ve probably been taking too many cases, trying to stay busy and not think about things, but…” He shrugs. He really had decided to go with honesty. Amazing, if unexpected. “Mostly, I guess I’ve…I’ve been taking him for granted.” A little more tentative. He probably doesn’t get to talk about his relationship much, particularly with the societal prejudices common to so many. “I got so used to him being supportive and always there for me, when he wasn’t, I kind of freaked out. We’re still feeling this thing out, because neither of us know what we’re doing.” He shrugs. “A large part of it is that Kaito-san isn’t exactly the type to think everything through, so he’s probably taking day-by-day decisions on ‘oh, is Tak still keeping me out, well, I’ll keep him out’, while I’m seeing the big picture and panicking about the state of our relationship.”
“Is he….not suited for detective work?” she asks, tentative, and Yagami-san snorts.
“Let’s just say I would not ask him to help plan a surprise party,” he explains, and yeah, that’s a pretty good reason. “He’s been getting better, but we’re new in town and I don’t want to have to dig out my suit just ‘cause we ticked off the local cops by stepping on too many toes.”
He seems a lot calmer now. “Actually, from his perspective, everything he’s doing makes perfect sense—he feels like I’m the one abandoning him, rather than the other way around. Just as I become unavailable, someone else has time to go on an all-night bender. He probably sees it as ‘I like these two guys, why aren’t they getting along’ and thinks I’m being uncharacteristically hostile toward Kuwana-san. And he’s so sure he’s not wanted that he isn’t bothering to try to help me balance things out when I just threw myself into work.”
When he lays it out like that… “Why don’t you like Kuwana-san?”
He sighs, playing with his jacket cuffs. “I guess who better to tell me if I’m acting like a spoiled child than a teenager?” He starts counting on his hand. “He picked a fight with me when we first met. He also actively interfered with the investigation by stopping me from interrogating some thugs, though I don’t think he knew what he was doing. More than anything, though, it’s…he’ll do something and it’s fine, I’ll do something and get yelled at, and more than anything every single time they’ve taken his side over mine.” He swallows. “It’s irrational, but it feels like I’m being replaced.”
The timing of her reading about this is…surreal. “Actually, I was just reading an article in a psychology blog about how jealousy is natural because from the days of early civilization, our bonds with others were incredibly important. Having a place in the tribe guaranteed you food, warmth, companionship. If that was put in jeopardy, your survival could very easily follow.”
He looks more amused than he should be at this, but just shrugs as she raises a questioning eyebrow at him. “You’d get along well with a friend of mine,” he explains, and that’s all he’ll say. For now, anyway. “He was also kind of harassing Sawa-sensei, which didn’t help, but he probably wasn’t actually thinking about cheating, because he doesn’t tend to think as long-term as I do. It was probably just more like ‘pretty lady, I’ll impress her and Tak’, coupled with him thinking he’s more suave than he is.”
“You should probably let him know, because ignorance doesn’t help women feel less terrified, but…maybe when he’d actually listen to you.” Because she’ll take him at his word that Kaito-san is a really good guy, in which case, he’d be deeply mortified that he was hurting someone like that.
He nods. “Absolutely. And if he’s…I don’t know, feeling insecure, that he’s not just gay, or whatever, it’s still no excuse.” And then he turns completely serious. “Thanks. That helped. That being said, don’t do this again. I mean it, just leave it as is. I’ll figure something out.”
She bows her head. “I’m sorry.”
“I appreciate that.” He hesitates, then adds, “…and this is by no means some sort of reward, but if you need an internship later, come find me, okay? You really just need experience and a finely tuned instinct on when to not interfere to make you a great detective.”
For a second or two, she’s speechless, and notices exactly when he observes the same because the earnest look is replaced by a smirk. That’s enough to get her brain to restart just to come up with a suitable response. “You’d really do that for me?”
“Well, I’m not just about to subject any other detective agency to the great Amasawa.” He’s tempted to just leave it at the smart-aleck response, but decides to continue. “Plus, I’m kind of invested now, and as successors go, I think you’ve got the potential.”
She bows deeper, voice trembling a bit as she thanks him, and he saunters out, just waving in response. “Have a great lunch!” Food for thought, really. Food for thought.
