23｜Exclusive from Jinjiang·23

I heard you're breaking up.

The setting sun painted the clouds red, and the streetlights lit up one by one. Fine snowflakes drifted down from the horizon, melting in mid-air before they even touched the ground.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan, wrapped in a fluffy white coat, sat lost in thought on a bench in the corridor on the first floor of the Metropolitan Police Department. Officers finishing their day's duty passed by her in twos and threes, discussing whether to go straight home or go out for a couple of drinks.

Some time has passed since the bombing, and the rumors about Yomi Laichuan and the SMTS have gradually been replaced by other new gossip. But occasionally, when an officer recognizes Yomi Laichuan, he will still nudge the person next to him with his elbow and wink to signal his partner to look over.

"Could she really be dating Hagiwara from the SWAT team?"

"I hope it's true. That jerk needs to find a girlfriend soon; he's always at the top of the 'Most Desired Male Cop by Female Cops' list."

"There's nothing we can do about it. He's handsome, knows how to make girls happy, and is also a professional officer known as a police bureaucrat."

"Damn it, I've been completely outshone."

"She's quite cute, though, she's Officer Hagiwara's girlfriend."

"I'm so envious. I also want a cute girlfriend to wait for me after get off work."

As the subject of the conversation, Lai Chuan Huang Quan simply lowered his head in a daze, his almond-shaped eyes fixed on the patterns on the tiles beneath his feet, seemingly oblivious to the whispers around him.

But she raised her hand and ruffled the hair that fell beside her ears, secretly covering the reddened tips of her ears with her black hair.

"Honestly, why isn't the second-year graduate student out yet?" She turned her head to the side and muttered in a low voice that only she could hear, "Is this idiot a tortoise?"

She took out her phone and sent a message to Kenji Hagiwara:

"—Slow, sluggish officer, I'm off!"

She expected Hagiwara to reply immediately, but after waiting seven or eight minutes, the phone she held in her hand remained as still as a stagnant pool, offering no response. The phone screen lit up repeatedly, but aside from the changing time and battery level, nothing changed—Hagiwara Kenji still hadn't replied.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan let out a cold snort from her nose, crossed her arms, and became sullen.

If she can't reply to messages, she must be working overtime. After all, Hagiwara is the ace of the mobile unit and a squad leader, so it's understandable that he doesn't have time to talk to her.

But Lai Chuan Huang Quan felt an emptiness, a sense of unfulfilled expectation, like a helium balloon suddenly punctured. She twisted and turned on the cushioned bench, feeling as if each day was an eternity. Even overhearing the unfamiliar police officers gossiping about her hadn't made her as restless as she was now.

I took out my phone to check the messages for the fifth time, and only three minutes had passed.

Her emotions shifted from anxiety to dejection. Lai Chuan Huang Quan turned off the screen and stared at her reflection in the black screen. Even this phone was bought for her by Hagiwara Kenji, and he was the one who repaired it.

The scene of Hagiwara fixing her phone last night flashed through her mind; the usually carefree and easygoing man found the problem in no time. Those violet eyes, when focused, were more captivating than ever.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan was sitting next to Hagiwara Kenji at the time. She rested her elbows on the table, her hands supporting her chin, staring intently at him. Her intense gaze was hard to ignore. Hagiwara Kenji kept telling himself to stay calm, but he still managed to sneak a smile under the soft-bread's gaze: "It's fixed now. So, soft-bread, don't you think I'm amazing?"

Recalling the way Kenji Hagiwara smiled and called her "soft bread," Yomi Lai subconsciously raised the corners of her mouth, revealing a somewhat silly smile. But the next second, she frowned, her fingers rapidly tapping the phone screen, so hard that each tap made a soft clicking sound.

"I'm leaving! I'm not waiting for you!"

Lai Chuan Huang Quan stood up abruptly, muttering "second-year graduate students are idiots" as she strode towards the Metropolitan Police Department's main entrance. She took a few steps, her anger rising, but then her pace slowed until she came to a complete stop.

She shouldn't be angry—she had no right to demand that Kenji Hagiwara coax her. Besides, even among friends, not replying to messages is perfectly normal.

but……

She still wanted more.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan stood on the steps outside the Metropolitan Police Department's main entrance, biting her lower lip. She glanced back at the brightly lit entrance, a troubled expression on her face. She regretted it and wanted to go back to her seat to wait for Hagiwara. But the text message had already been sent, and she walked out of the Metropolitan Police Department with her head held high in front of so many officers.

"How annoying..." With her brows furrowed, Lai Chuan Huang Quan spoke in a muffled voice, implying self-pity: "...I'm sorry to go back."

Lai Chuan Huang Quan was grinding his lower lip repeatedly with his teeth, caught in a dilemma, when a voice suddenly interrupted.

"It's you," Inspector Megure said, having just returned from the crime scene by car. He immediately spotted the woman standing on the steps, looking preoccupied. "Here to report a crime?"

Lai Chuan Huang Quan glanced at Megure Juichi, stared blankly for a moment, and then realized that the police officer in front of her was the officer from the First Investigation Division who had interrogated her when she saved the second-year graduate student.

The short Inspector Megure stood on the two steps below, looking up at Yomi Raikawa, who had been frowning since earlier: "Have you run into some trouble?"

Lai Chuan Huang Quan glanced at the still empty inbox, and then his whole demeanor visibly wilted: "I'm waiting for Officer Yan Er."

As soon as she finished speaking, Inspector Megure across from her gave her a subtle expression. He frowned, his eyes widening in surprise before narrowing them sharply. He practically had a question mark written all over his face.

Inspector Megure paused for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Miss Raikawa, you don't want your boyfriend anymore?" And she was even calling Hagiwara so intimately, she was already calling him by his first name.

Yomi Laichuan: ...?

Yomi Laichuan was equally stunned. After a few seconds of thought, she realized that the "boyfriend" Inspector Megure mentioned was Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was using the alias Midorikawa Hikaru. In that instant, Yomi Laichuan also realized something else, something very bad—what if Hagiwara knew about this rumor and misunderstood her?

Her mind was a complete mess, her lips moved as if she wanted to explain, but after a moment's hesitation, Lai Chuan Huang Quan shut her mouth again. Looking dejected and like a lost dog, she suddenly began to apologize, her hands behind her back.

"sorry."

It's unclear whether she was speaking to Inspector Megure in front of her or to Kenji Hagiwara, who wasn't present.

Her voice had completely lost its usual sweetness and vitality. Lai Chuan Huang Quan stared down at her black leather shoes, suddenly feeling sad. The feeling of loss was like the cold seawater blown ashore by the sea breeze at high tide, slowly rising until it completely submerged Lai Chuan Huang Quan.

Oh right, she has a boyfriend, even if it's just in name only.

Although she and Morofushi Kagemitsu were not close at all, and were even in the process of testing each other, to unsuspecting people, it seemed as if she had a boyfriend.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan pursed her lips tightly, her eyebrows drooping, her unfocused eyes fixed on nothingness.

When negative emotions take over, people subconsciously make some cruel and harsh judgments about themselves.

Yomi Laichuan didn't know how Kenji Hagiwara would judge her if he knew about this. He'd probably think she was a terrible woman, having a boyfriend while cheating on her with other women.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan raised his hand and pretended to calmly tidy his bangs, but his fingers dug into his hair and scratched it a few times, pulling out a few clumps of black hair that were stuck in his tufts, making them bulge outwards and abruptly bend into an arch on his scalp.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan couldn't find a precise word to describe her feelings. If she had to, she felt like she had just arrogantly delivered a string of "scumbag woman" remarks in a crowd, only to turn around and encounter someone who could dazzle her. It was as if her budding feelings had been trampled into the mud before they could even blossom, as if a rose had withered under the scorching sun, and as if a mermaid had died on the coastline.

No matter how competitive she was, Lai Chuan Huang Quan had to admit that she did have a tiny bit of a crush on that jerk of a police officer. Well, only a tiny bit; she didn't really like him.

The phone, which she had been clutching tightly in her hand, suddenly vibrated. Lai Chuan Huang Quan glanced at the caller ID. The long-awaited name danced in her vision, but Lai Chuan Huang Quan no longer felt excited; instead, she felt a sense of escapism. Without a word, she turned off the screen, neither hanging up nor answering.

Her heart felt like it was being pulled and ripped apart by a force, but she seemed to have no right to complain. Lai Chuan Huang Quan lowered her gaze, looking like she was about to cry.

Now it was Inspector Megure's turn to be dumbfounded. He seriously reflected on whether he had said anything too offensive. Recalling Yomi's evaluation of Hikaru Midorikawa when they first met, Inspector Megure cautiously asked, "Did your boyfriend hit you?"

Lai Chuan Huang Quan took a deep breath, forcibly swallowing back the grievances that were about to rise in his throat, and forced a smile: "No, he didn't hit me, and I'm already seriously considering breaking up with him."

"Break up? Who do you want to break up with?"

A familiar voice suddenly rang out behind her, startling Lai Chuan Huang Quan so much that she tensed up, goosebumps rising all over her body. Her slow turn of her head resembled a rusty mechanical part, as if it would make a clicking, metallic scraping sound at any moment.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan swallowed hard and whispered the name of the person who came: "Ken... Officer Hagiwara".

Kenji Hagiwara frowned, forcing out an unpleasant single syllable from his throat: "Hmm?"

The neatly ironed suit jacket was now wrinkled in several places from running. The bow tie under the white collar was loose, and the tie was askew. The disheveled appearance made the handsome man look somewhat disheveled, yet it also created a strange kind of chaotic beauty.

Something seemed to have finally appeared, shattering Kenji Hagiwara's usually calm demeanor and disrupting his peaceful life.

Kenji Hagiwara didn't laugh; he stared intently at Yomi Yorikawa.

His chest heaving slightly from the exertion, he said, "Softie, who did you just say you wanted to break up with?"

[Author's Note]

This story will be available for purchase on August 29th (Monday). To avoid a terrible time when it gets taken down, I would appreciate your support on that day. (bows)

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Late x1

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An extra chapter will be added for every 600 nutrient solutions, 600 comments, and 100 "Overlord Tickets." An extra chapter will also be added for every three late submissions. Nutrient solutions, comments, and "Overlord Tickets" submitted before the chapter becomes VIP are still valid; extra chapters will be added after the chapter becomes VIP.

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