After leaving the Okuho Grand Hotel, Fujiwara Yuu drove his car to take Miyano Akemi back to her apartment. It still takes some distance to drive from Okuho Town to Haido Town. The atmosphere in the car was a little awkward. It was not known whether it was due to the teasing looks of Matsuda and the others, or because a single man and a single woman were alone in a small space at this time.
The two people who fell into silence seemed to have no intention of speaking first. The night road in the early morning was difficult to drive, so Fujiwara Yu had to concentrate on driving. Only when he stopped at a red light, he thought about what questions Miyano Akemi might ask him.
However, the questions that broke the silence were not what Fujiwara Yu had considered. He thought that Miyano Akemi would ask him questions like "What choice would you have made if we hadn't made the plan just now?" But when he thought about it carefully, she was not the kind of person who would ask such questions.
"How have you been lately?"
It's a very common inquiry, just like a greeting from a friend you haven't seen for a long time.
"It's still the same as before. I go to work on weekdays to handle cases, and on weekends..." Fujiwara Yuu paused here. He suddenly remembered that every time he took a vacation, he was always inexplicably involved in a case, as if whether he took a vacation or not had little to do with him.
Miyano Akemi noticed his pause and thought of their encounters at crime scenes over the past two years. She couldn't help but laugh out loud, her tone somewhat teasing.
"Could it be that every day off becomes an overtime day?"
"...Maybe the victim needs me." Fujiwara Yu shook his head slightly. He was puzzled about his "luck" that made him easily involved in cases, but thinking that he could handle those cases well was also good.
It's better than letting criminals go unpunished, and it doesn't matter if I have to cut down on some of my rest time.
Fujiwara Yuu slowly parked the car behind the white line, put one hand on the steering wheel, and looked sideways at the person next to him:
"What about you? How have you been lately?"
"It's pretty good. Life is still the same as before. The organization hasn't imposed too many restrictions on my freedom. My studies at Nanyang University have also ended. Now I'm working there as a teaching assistant to earn some extra money."
Fujiwara Yuu knew that Miyano Akemi had always worked very hard, and he was quite curious about what she did with the savings she had accumulated from years of part-time work. However, since this involved privacy, he still did not ask.
The conversation ended with some greetings. Both of them obviously had a lot to say to each other, but when they got the chance to be alone, they didn't know where to start. So when they arrived at the door of the 24-hour drugstore near Miyano Akemi's apartment building, they both remained silent.
Fujiwara Yu was worried that members of the organization who were occasionally responsible for surveillance would linger near the apartment building, so he did not choose to drive the car to the bottom of the apartment building. After all, she was a police officer, and her frequent contact with the police would arouse the suspicion of the organization. He didn't dare to imagine what crazy actions the organization would take at that time.
He parked the car steadily in front of the convenience store and asked:
"Can I just take you here?"
"Okay, but don't leave yet."
Fujiwara Yuu looked at Miyano Akemi suspiciously as she went into the pharmacy. When she came out, she hurried back to the car and took out the things she had bought. He was worried she might be feeling unwell, but when he saw she was pulling out medical disinfectant and sterile gauze from the paper bag, he realized she was buying them for herself.
…
His subconsciously furrowed brows relaxed, a faint smile hung on the corners of his mouth, and his tone was quite helpless:
"Did you find out anyway?"
"You're not the type to show off. Driving with one hand and putting the other in your pocket is totally not your style."
Miyano Akemi had long noticed that Fujiwara Yu's left hand was injured, so she kept her left hand in her trouser pocket when she was on the rooftop. Even when he grabbed her wrist, she did not pull her other hand out, obviously trying to hide the injury.
Fujiwara Yuu knew that his poorly concealed injury would be discovered, he just didn't want others to worry. Facing Miyano Akemi's serious expression, he had no choice but to honestly pull his left hand out of his trouser pocket, but when he opened it, he was very slow.
It’s not that I want to hide it at a time like this, it’s just that the wound caused by the friction of the rope is a bit deep, and the fist posture for a long time has caused the flesh and blood to stick together... Spreading out the palm is undoubtedly "secondary damage".
After seeing the bloody mess on her palm, Akemi Miyano glared at Fujiwara Yu with dissatisfaction. He wanted to hide it even though he was injured like this. This guy was still the same as before and didn't like to show his "weak" side to others.
She thought that Shiho's personality was the same, always reporting good news but not bad news. Sometimes she really felt it in her heart: These two people really have similarities in some aspects.
"Don't you know that this will only make people more worried? What if your wound gets infected? You're a medical student, how could you not know the seriousness of a wound infection?"
The three consecutive questions made Fujiwara Yu lower his head like a child who had done something wrong. He endured the pain when the disinfectant touched the wound, but he was quite happy in his heart... He also enjoyed the nagging of the people he cared about, which made him think of the trivial things in his childhood.
When Fujiwara Yuu was a child, his personality was not as calm as it is now. He was still a lively and active child.
He still remembers his childhood in the United States, especially when he was in kindergarten and was looked down upon by a blond child because of his hair color.
When he was a child, he didn't think so much. He swung his fist and punched the other person's nose. In the end, the teacher pulled him away... Of course, he shook hands with the blond child whose name he could no longer remember and made peace with him afterwards.
After returning home, his mother naturally criticized him severely for his violent behavior, but also praised him for his courage to resist.
"Since you're a medical student, I won't remind you how to protect your wound. However, my disinfection is just a routine treatment. You still need to go to the hospital and let the doctor treat you carefully later. Understand?"
"Okay, got it."
When Miyano Akemi was putting on the sterile gauze, she noticed that Fujiwara Yu was trying to restrain himself from smiling. She was a little confused. The wound should be painful when it came into contact with the disinfectant, so why was he still smiling?
"why are you laughing?"
"Nothing, just thinking about my childhood."
Things from childhood?
Miyano Akemi probably understood what Fujiwara Yu meant. She recalled that when she was a child, she would bring an injured child back to her mother's clinic for treatment, and she smiled and shared:
【Given the general environment,
"When I was little, I knew a boy who was criticized for his blond hair and tanned skin. He would always get into fights with them and come to my clinic when he got hurt."
Blonde hair, tan skin?
Wait a minute, how come running to the clinic after the fight is the same thing as what happened to Rei Furuya when he was a child?
Fujiwara Yu hesitated for a moment. He felt that this was somewhat of a coincidence and couldn't help asking:
"Really? Then do you still remember the boy's name?"
"I've forgotten his last name, but I still remember his first name. Mom always called him 'Zero.'"
“…It’s a really special name.”
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