After climbing into the passenger seat, Ritsu's height was obviously ill-suited for a Volkswagen Beetle. Once again, he curled up his long legs and glanced toward Hayasaka beside him, quietly complaining:
"Hayasaka, have you considered changing cars?"
Hayasaka glanced at the awkward way he was sitting, and her mood instantly improved. For some reason, seeing this annoying superior of hers suffer always made her strangely happy.
"My, if you don't like my car, you can always drive yourself."
"Then forget it. Hitching a ride is better."
The corner of Hayasaka's mouth twitched. Was this guy treating her like a free chauffeur? Did he have no shame at all?
She truly disliked people with this kind of personality. Thinking back to what he had said earlier while solving the case, Hayasaka felt that even associating him with that person was practically disrespectful.
Silently, she prayed from the bottom of her heart that she could be transferred away from Onizawa as soon as possible.
"Oh right, today's Valentine's Day, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Hayasaka drove expressionlessly.
As a single woman, she clearly had no intention of celebrating the holiday. Besides, the person she liked was already gone from this world.
"You prepared chocolate for me?"
Ritsu reached down and picked up a small bag placed near the passenger seat floor. Inside was chocolate wrapped in purple gift paper, with a chibi version of Mamoru Chiba drawn on the packaging.
'She still likes Sailor Moon just as much as before. So how did her personality change this drastically?'
Ritsu thought of the cellphone that had sunk into Tokyo Bay. His current self could no longer receive anything from her.
He wondered whether she still kept up the habit of writing in her diary.
The moment Hayasaka realized what he was holding, her expression stiffened.
"Put it back."
"Hm?"
"I said put it back. Don't touch that."
Ritsu hadn't expected his actions to actually make her angry. Not daring to joke around anymore, he immediately returned the bag to its original place. Feeling slightly wronged, he muttered.
"Did you really need to get that mad? I just picked it up to take a look."
"Because he's very important to me."
"He?"
Hayasaka instantly realized she had said something she shouldn't have. A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she stammered, "S-Shut up! Why is a grown man so nosy anyway? We're here, get out!"
"...Oh."
'So Hayasaka has someone she likes.'
Ritsu silently thought to himself that it was pretty surprising his subordinate already had someone important to her, while he himself remained completely inexperienced in romance.
With his current identity, dating was probably impossible anyway.
Closing the car door, Ritsu followed Hayasaka back into the Metropolitan Police Department. They still needed to record the culprit's statement and finish writing reports.
Better to get it done quickly and go home early. Unfortunately, ideals were beautiful while reality was cruel.
After spending an entire hour finishing all his paperwork, Ritsu received an email from Megure informing him that he had gone out on another case and needed someone to hold down the office.
In other words, even after finishing his reports, he still had to work overtime until the night shift officers arrived.
"Here." Hayasaka handed her completed report to Ritsu.
"I can leave now, right?"
"Yeah, go ahead. Otherwise Valentine's Day will be over soon. If you don't give it to him now, you'll have to wait until next year."
Resting his chin on one hand, Ritsu glanced at the clock, calculating how much longer it would take for the replacement officers to arrive.
Hayasaka clearly hadn't expected him to say something like that.
She bit her lower lip lightly, remembering how every Valentine's Day over the years, she had always prepared a box of chocolate.
She had even made birthday cakes for him on his birthday. Obviously, there was no reason to make one this year. Yet out of habit, she still did.
Plop.
Ritsu looked at the chocolate suddenly placed on his desk in confusion. Just as he was about to ask about it, Hayasaka interrupted him first.
"Don't misunderstand. This chocolate doesn't have an owner, and that's kind of pitiful, so I'm giving it to you."
"...Thanks."
Listening to the sound of her heels gradually fading against the tiled floor, Ritsu looked at the chocolate on the desk and smiled faintly.
"Of course I wouldn't misunderstand. I'm not narcissistic enough to think chocolate like this would be meant for a superior she's only known for a week."
This was technically the first time he had ever received chocolate. Naturally, he chose to ignore all the girls he had rejected back in school.
Ritsu unwrapped the chocolate and took a bite. Instantly, his handsome face twisted into agony.
"Ugh!"
He grabbed the bottle of mineral water on the desk and chugged it furiously, draining the entire thing in seconds.
Staring at the chocolate with the huge bite taken out of it, Ritsu couldn't help but laugh bitterly.
"If she gave this to the person she likes, it'd seriously cause a disaster... This tastes awful."
There were mysterious hard chunks inside the chocolate, probably burnt nuts or cereal or something similar. On top of that, there was an indescribably strange flavor mixed into it. He had genuinely never eaten chocolate this terrible before.
If Ritsu had known Hayasaka mixed Calpis into the chocolate, he definitely would have shouted,
"You ruined both the chocolate and the Calpis!"
It wasn't until 10 PM that officers from Megure's unit finally arrived for the shift change.
At long last free from work, Ritsu cleaned off his desk at lightning speed, grabbed his phone and wallet, and disappeared from the Metropolitan Police Department at the speed of light.
When it came to getting off work quickly, no one could beat him.
The moment he stepped outside, his phone rang.
It was Gin.
An ominous feeling instantly rose within him. Maybe it was PTSD from dealing with that workaholic. Every time Gin called, Ritsu instinctively felt like another mission was about to be dumped onto him.
Completely forgetting that he technically no longer worked under Gin anymore.
"Gin, what is it?"
"I'm currently in Osaka. Meet me at Cocktail Bar in two hours. I've sent the address to your email."
"Osaka? Weren't you overseas on a mission?"
Gin coldly glanced at the miserable-looking Vodka standing beside him and replied cooly, "Vodka booked the wrong plane ticket."
As expected of something Vodka would do. The corners of Ritsu's lips lifted slightly as he proactively reported.
"I'm planning to stop by the lab. Thatperson is very concerned about APTX4869's progress."
"Mm. Go ahead."
Click.
This time, Ritsu managed to hang up the phone slightly faster than Gin. As always, beating Gin to the hang-up was deeply satisfying.
Flagging down a taxi, Ritsu deliberately didn't tell the driver he was heading to Meisen Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Instead, he gave the address of the Nishitama City Hall, since the two locations were close together.
By the time he arrived at the laboratory, forty minutes had already passed.
At nearly 11 PM, that nocturnal young lady definitely wasn't asleep yet. Most likely she was still in the lab, lovingly petting adorable little white mice.
After stepping out of the car, Ritsu used a special makeup remover from his pocket to wipe away the disguise concealing the cross-shaped scar on his face. He removed the gold-rimmed glasses and casually ran a hand through his hair before striding confidently toward the entrance.
Instead of entering the password, he politely knocked on the side door. Once the black-clad security personnel inside came out, Ritsu coldly stared at them and said.
"Gin should've informed you who I am."
White hair. Crimson eyes. Cross-shaped scar. The night-shift guards immediately opened the door respectfully after recognizing him.
"Augier-san, please come in."
He was the newly appointed head of the Japan Division, someone on equal standing with Gin. A tiny grunt like him wouldn't dare show the slightest disrespect.
Ritsu made his way familiarly toward Laboratory No. 5.
The password hadn't changed. Because his authority level matched Gin's, there was no need for palm or fingerprint verification.
Simply standing before the scanner was enough to unlock the laboratory door.
What surprised Ritsu, however, was that the room was completely dark.
Shiho wasn't there.
He slowly walked inside, observing the layout of the laboratory.
Nothing had changed. Even his old workstation remained exactly where it used to be.
Always cautious, he slipped on gloves before touching the desk surface. Someone clearly cleaned the area regularly; there wasn't even a trace of dust.
What surprised him most was the bottle of Calpis sitting on his former desk.
"..."
His lowered eyelashes cast faint shadows over crimson eyes now touched with a hint of warmth. The tiny smile on his lips was so subtle it was nearly invisible, yet it carried unmistakable sincerity.
It was genuine happiness from the bottom of his heart.
'Seems I didn't spoil her for nothing.'
She still remembered him. She even remembered that his favorite drink was Calpis.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed from behind him. The sharp clicking of high heels against the floor.
She was probably here.
"Macallan!"
Ritsu slowly turned around.
Standing at the laboratory entrance was Shiho in a white lab coat, her tea-colored wavy bob cut exactly the same length as before.
Rapidly suppressing his emotions, he curved his lips upward into a smile devoid of any warmth. His voice was cold as winter wind, instantly scattering the hope in Shiho's eyes.
"Nice to meet you for the first time, Second Young Lady of the Miyano family."
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