A bad feeling suddenly welled up inside him.
Ritsu quickly pulled out a black bucket hat and placed it over his head to hide his conspicuous hair color. Rising to his feet, he started heading up the steps before the other two realized someone had "invaded" the private beach.
However, the moment he stepped onto the first stair and casually lifted his gaze, his eyes met those of a certain someone carrying two giant coconuts.
Sure enough, his sixth sense had been right. He never should've come to a place like this for vacation.
"Inspector Onizawa?" Even with the bucket hat and black sunglasses, Shinichi recognized him instantly.
His brain immediately began racing. 'Could there be a case happening here?'
After all, the inspector's outfit definitely didn't look like someone who came to the beach for fun.
"..."
He could still recognize him like this?
Ritsu felt somewhat relieved that he had disguised himself today, meaning what Shinichi saw was Onizawa, not Augier.
Otherwise, this really would've become a complete disaster, considering even many people inside the Organization didn't know Augier and Onizawa Takashi were the same person.
"Kudo, you're way too slow! I'm dying of thirst over here!"
Hearing that loud voice, Shinichi narrowed his eyes irritably.
"If you're thirsty, then go get it yourself! Seriously, I don't get why we had to come play at the beach in the first place. It's so boring."
"Hm? Who's that standing next to you?"
Since she could only see his back, Sonoko hadn't realized the person in question was the handsome guy she had been thinking about for ages.
"Oh, Inspector Onizawa. You met him during Valentine's Day before."
'Onizawa... Inspector Onizawa? Who was that again?'
Sonoko searched through her memory but still couldn't recall him. However, the moment Ritsu removed his sunglasses and switched back to the gold-rimmed glasses he normally wore, she remembered instantly.
Compared to names, Sonoko was far better at remembering handsome faces.
"Ran, Ran, it's the handsome inspector! Oh my god, why is he here? Is this fate bringing us together?! M-Me, how does my hairstyle look right now?"
Ran laughed awkwardly. "Sonoko... if you say it that loudly, he'll hear you."
"Ahem!"
Sonoko immediately straightened up and put on the elegant noble-lady etiquette her mother had taught her. Gracefully placing both hands in front of herself, she smiled.
"Onizawa-san, I didn't expect to meet you here."
Had none of them realized how strange it was for him to appear on a private beach?
Ritsu suddenly felt these three lacked any sense of crisis awareness whatsoever. Pretending not to hear Sonoko's earlier outburst, he simply smiled and replied,
"What a coincidence. Are you here on vacation? Though today doesn't seem to be the weekend."
After handing the coconuts to the girls, Shinichi explained,
"Summer vacation started yesterday. Inspector, you should really pay more attention to student holidays once in a while."
"..."
'Teitan High really shouldn't let people like you roam free. Every time I run into you, something bad always happens.'
After silently complaining about Shinichi in his head, Ritsu leisurely replied,
"So school's on break now, huh? Unfortunately, my girlfriend suddenly had work to deal with, so I ended up coming to the beach alone to relax."
'Girl. Friend.'
Despite the clear blue skies and beautiful weather, a light drizzle instantly began pouring inside Sonoko's heart. She could even hear nonexistent thunder rumbling in the distance.
'W-Was this what those four-character idiom books called a bolt from the blue?'
'Why did every handsome guy already have a girlfriend?'
'Why did every handsome guy she liked already belong to someone else?!'
Sonoko nearly burst into tears.
What "fated encounter"? In the end, the only single person here was herself.
Ran was also a little surprised. 'So Inspector Onizawa already had a girlfriend.'
She smiled helplessly. Looks like Sonoko would be secretly heartbroken again.
Though when she thought about it carefully, it made sense. A young man as handsome, talented, and capable as Ritsu not having a girlfriend would actually be stranger.
Excellent people were always pursued by others.
She secretly glanced at her own childhood friend.
Now that she thought about it, Shinichi had always been pretty popular with girls ever since middle school. Maybe someday he would also—
Wait. Why was she even thinking about that?!
That idiot detective maniac could date whoever he wanted, it had nothing to do with her!
It must've been Sonoko rubbing off on her.
Ran bit down on the straw in her coconut and took several large gulps of the cool, refreshing coconut water, trying to suppress the strange agitation rising within her heart.
"Seriously though, playing here is way too boring. This giant private beach literally has no one on it— huh?"
Only now did Shinichi finally realize something. One person here definitely shouldn't have been here.
He stared at Ritsu in surprise. "Inspector... how exactly did you get here?"
'You're only noticing that now?'
'Was the antenna in your reflex arc connected between Earth and Mars or something? That'd explain why the signal delay was this terrible.'
"I walked here along the shoreline. I didn't realize I wandered into private property."
Stirring the coconut water with the straw, Ritsu smiled awkwardly. "I didn't know this was a private beach. Sorry about that, Suzuki-san."
"It's fine, it's fine! The more people, the livelier it is. Why don't you just hang out with us instead, Inspector?"
Sonoko enthusiastically invited him over.
Since the handsome guy was already taken, she naturally wouldn't make a move. But that didn't stop her from appreciating eye candy.
"Then I'll gladly accept your invitation. Thank you, Suzuki-san."
Feeling bored, Shinichi unconsciously shifted his gaze toward Ran. The longer he looked, the redder his face became.
After all, the bikini Ran wore today was... a little sexy. He hadn't noticed before, but—Ahem.
Ran's figure had really developed quite a lot. Suddenly, the beach no longer seemed so boring.
"Hm? Is this handsome guy your boyfriend, Sonoko?"
The four standing by the shore all turned around simultaneously.
A short-haired man wearing a sea-blue shirt and beige shorts stood there smiling at them. His gaze rested on Ritsu, clearly misunderstanding the situation.
"Yuzo-niisan!" Sonoko quickly waved her hands.
"You've got it wrong! This is Inspector Onizawa, a really amazing police officer! He already has a girlfriend."
"I see. My apologies then. My name is Tomizawa Yuzo, pleased to meet you."
Tomizawa Yuzo.
At first, the name didn't mean much to Ritsu, but after thinking about the Tomizawa surname for a moment, he remembered it belonged to another major conglomerate similar to the Suzuki Financial Group and one the Organization had not yet brought under control.
"Hello. I'm Onizawa Takashi from the Metropolitan Police Department. Nice to meet you."
Sonoko happily introduced Yuzo to Ran.
"He's the third son of Tomizawa Tetsuharu, chairman of the Tomizawa Group! He's also my older sister's fiancé. They're getting married next autumn!"
"Eh?!"
At the mention of marriage, Ran immediately revealed a dreamy expression.
She had always looked forward to her future wedding. After all, she was the type of girl filled with romantic ideals who loved fairy tales.
"You must be dying to see my sister, right? She's inside the villa right now, so hurry up and go!"
There was a mischievous glint in Sonoko's eyes. Nobody knew what was going on inside her little head, but judging from her expression, it was probably filled with inappropriate thoughts.
Yuzo waved his hand.
"No, actually I mainly came here today to introduce my father and older brothers to her."
"So everyone's here already?"
"Yeah. My two older brothers will arrive tomorrow, but my father should already be at the villa."
Yuzo pulled out his phone. "Oh right, let me call and check."
However, the call didn't go through. It went directly to voicemail. "That's strange. It went to voicemail."
Looking toward the watch on Ritsu's wrist, Yuzo asked, "Onizawa-san, may I ask what time it is?"
"3:10 PM."
"That's odd. Father was supposed to arrive by three o'clock already. I'll just—"
Hearing that, Sonoko suddenly dashed toward the family villa.
"Sonoko? Wait for me! Where are you going?!"
"If Uncle Tomizawa already arrived, I need to go greet him!"
"Eh? Wait for me, I'll come too!"
Shinichi narrowed his eyes while watching the three hurriedly run off the beach. Picking up the two giant coconuts left behind in the sand, he sighed speechlessly.
"Seriously. Leaving these here almost turned them into litter."
"That's just rich young lady etiquette for you. They probably went back to change clothes. What about you?"
"What else can I do? Obviously I'm following them." Shinichi grinned.
"I was honestly thinking today would be pretty boring, but now that you're here, Inspector, it's a different story."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ritsu immediately became wary.
"Hehe. I want to properly discuss some cases with you. You must've handled a bunch recently, right?"
"I'm not authorized to disclose case details to unrelated civilians outside law enforcement."
"Eh? Come on, don't be like that, Inspector Onizawa! Just tell me, okay? Pleeease? I really wanna know!"
"Straighten your tongue before speaking properly. Stop grabbing onto me."
"Pleeease?"
"...And act normal."