Chapter Text
Ohno gives the Commissioner office door a series of knocks.
He usually hates morning summons because they always mean bad news in all variety—the reprimands, mostly for his behavior on the field, even if he could only blame the rookie officers for botching the evidences; the face-to-face briefing involving too many head officer officers, which most of the time required him to drop a case or look the other way when something bigger is involved; or the top secret assignment that ended up not so top secret because he’d find most of the head divisions were there and sometimes Ohno wished they could just arrange a full briefing before lunch time.
Ohno knows what this morning summon is all about. It doesn’t make him more enthusiastic than usual though. It has set back his morning thinking time by half an hour, and he doesn’t appreciate a change of routine in any way.
At the soft answer from inside, Ohno opens the door and steps in. Ignoring the other presence in the room now, he stands at attention in the middle of the room and gives a short salute to the Commissioner before shifting to at ease. “You wanted to see me, Sir?”
“Good morning, Ohno,” Commissioner Higashiyama nods at him. “At least it’s good news this morning.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The Commissioner nods at the other presence in the room and Ohno shifts his stance.
“I summoned you here to formally introduce you to your new partner. This is Sakurai Sho, Second Rank Tech Detective. He recently relocated here after few years serving in the Kanazawa Prefecture Office. I believe you are acquainted with him already?”
Ohno finally turns and meet the eyes of his new partner. Openly, he gives the man a once over.
Sakurai Sho.
Sakurai Sho-kun, who was his kouhai by a year back in their Academy years.
Sho-kun, Ohno corrects himself, who is currently looking completely different from what Ohno remembers him. Gone is the surly look Sho used to wear—there were always too many tasks and case studies; there was always too much pressure from their mentors, from peers, and most of all from themselves. Gone is the stubborn expression, the air of determination Ohno often considered as excessive—considering they were just mere trainee back then.
Sho-kun now looks stunning.
Ohno finds himself frowning as he stares at Sho, his beautiful eyes are even more beautiful than Ohno remembers. Those lips look absolutely sinful now. Sho also looks fit in his perfectly fitted black suit, the formal tie—even the tie is perfectly tied; he has to resist the temptation to reach for his own tie, and his gleaming dress shoes—which almost made Ohno lost it; how can the man work in the field with such fancy shoes, Ohno has questions already.
And working together a partner? Ohno has been completely comfortable working solo, with his own pace, and he is practically surrounded with competent rookie young detectives who are always eager—or in some cases can’t refuse him—to be given tasks regarding any active investigation. He is one of the aces here in the Division after all.
But an assignment is an assignment. Ohno only nods, and answers the Commissioner earlier question. “Yes, I am Sir.”
Ohno senses the Commissioner was about to wrap the meeting when he catches a movement from his side. He can’t help to let out a short chuckle when he finds Sho bowing deeply in introduction—so polite and formal it’s bordering cute; somehow Ohno feels a surge of warmth and an explicable urge to ruffle the formality off the man.
The Commissioner is also amused, clearing his throat to conceal, what Ohno knows, one of his real smiles. “The head office had been very adamant in establishing a solid Tech subsection here in the Criminal Homicide Division. Ohno, you no longer need to collaborate with the third floor.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Your team can now both process and authorize e-evidence. Sakurai is officially certified to do so. I suppose this will cut a lot of red tape delay I kept on hearing from you, Ohno.”
It’s hard for Ohno to not grin—finally the time has come. The third floor has been his nemesis all along, all the annoying geeks who hated Ohno’s straightforward demand and impatience requests, had constantly given him a headache every time he needed them to process electronic evidence.
Now he only needs to be straightforwardly demanding and impatient toward Sho; this partnership can really work in his favor, he thinks.
“Yes, Sir.”
The Commissioner shifts his gaze to Sho. “Sakurai, you are aware along with this partnership, you will be in obligatory probation for the next three months, correct?
“I am, Sir.”
Ohno feels the corner of his eye twitches at the sound of Sho’s voice. Gone is the cute high-pitched Sho that once sounded both adorable and annoying to Ohno. The man next to him, Ohno notes, has deep and sweet-toned voice—now he has even more questions.
“You report to Ohno first for your performance review, but I am also granting you professional freedom to explore more about how this Tech thing will work on the division. I trust you to follow through your proposal and also report to me from time to time.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Very well.” He glances to his screen before nodding to both of them. “Head straight to West Setagaya. There’s been a suspicious death case this morning. All details should be on your communicators and has been sent to your desks.”
His reply is, beyond Ohno’s expectation, in synch with Sho. “Yes, Sir,” they both say.
The Commissioner nods at them one last time. “You’re both dismissed.”
*
On his way to the elevator bank. Ohno has just realized that Sho is walking one step behind him, most likely because he doesn’t know where they are going and is only following him because he must expect Ohno to show his way around here on his first day.
Fine.
He has no problem in showing Sho how things are done here. And they have a hot case, which required them to be on the field as soon as possible. He is tempted in just dragging Sho out of here and getting to work immediately, but now that he has Sho in his disposal, Ohno supposes he could arrange something more comfortable for him. Well, for Sho, too, but the man doesn’t have to know that.
Ohno presses the button—knowing that the elevator usually takes its time, especially when he is in a rush like this, and finally turns to see Sho waiting just at the end of the bank, clutching his backpack with an easy smile.
That’s not the expression Ohno was hoping to find.
That’s not the expression Ohno’s partner should wear; they both need to sport the utmost serious expression. Ohno has a long running reputation, an infamous one at that, and just because now he’s working with a partner—already a small dent to his impervious stubbornness image as one of the best detectives in Homicide—doesn’t mean he is willing to lose all the benefit from all the hard work he’s done these years to earn it. Sure, the office whispers have taken his crude way of talking and his no-nonsense attitude to another exaggerated level, but Ohno enjoys the hard-earned respect from his superior for all his hard work and the fear his fellow detectives and officers has for him.
Ohno was frowning as he tries to tell Sho just that when the elevator arrives with a soft ding.
“After you, Satoshi-kun.”
Ohno freezes on his stance.
The polite voice, the sound of his name rolling out of Sho’s mouth, spoken so seamlessly, like years ago back at the Academy when they were the closest thing Ohno had ever considered as friends with benefits.
But the glorious time of their youth has passed, and here they are now in the Tokyo Metropolitan Headquarter building, waiting for the elevator that will take them to their floor, as partners; And Ohno doesn't want nostalgia right now; he needs to work, he needs to solve cases, and if Sho is to be his partner—a lower rank partner at that, Ohno needs to set the rules of their partnership.
“Excuse me?” His voice comes out distant and cold, and he makes sure he’s glaring seriously at Sho.
Sho blinks in confusion, and Ohno sees he’s trying to comprehend the tone of Ohno’s warning and digest the signs Ohno has been giving him—a good trait in detective work, quick thinking, Ohno notes; not bad for a lower rank partner.
“I mean—“ There’s an uncertainty in Sho’s voice but he pulls through with his deduction and manages to offer: “Ohno-san?”
Ohno gives a stiff nod before walking into the waiting elevator first. After Sho followed and stood next to him, he presses the button for the fifth floor knowing that Sho’s watching his movement and most probably already making mental notes—another good trait, observant to details, Ohno notes again; better than he expected for a lower rank partner.
This is going to be a long day, Ohno sighs as he watches the floor number blinks.
Their office is on the west corner of the fifth floor—Ohno immediately goes into his serious mode and without waiting for Sho, he strides across the lobby to get to his corner cubicle, or should he say their corner cubicle. He ignores the questioning look of the people in the open office area—already used to their stares and whispers, and sighs when he reaches his space, or should he say their space now, finding the case brief already waiting for him on the desk.
His, or should he say their now, corner layout is simple, and the partition does nothing to provide them with peace and quiet, but it at least gives a decent sense of privacy from prying eyes of his colleagues.
He turns to find Sho’s standing in the middle of their space and waiting for Ohno’s instruction.
“I’m using this side,” Ohno says, pointing at the messy desk with an old computer and a comfy chair. Two other desks are on the other side of the cubicle—and Ohno has never used them except when he’s running out of space with his case board. “You can have them. Requisition Division can grant you nicer chair if you’re nice to them.”
Sho only nods and walks toward one of the desks.
“You’ll also need to set up some fancy computer here, right?”
“Yes,” Sho says with a short nod, his gaze on the table—and Ohno can see that he’s probably already making plans for this equipment.
Ohno was about to let this one go before he remembers that they need to settle this now before anything else. He clears his throat and asks again. “Excuse me?”
With an obvious surprise, Sho quickly turns and meets Ohno’s eyes. But this time he’s not entirely confused—another good trait in detective work, fast learning, Ohno notes pleasedly; definitely not bad for a lower rank partner.
Sho finally says: “Yes, Sir.”
Ohno doesn’t really like the hint of amused smile he can catch over Sho’s expression but he knows he has to let it go for now. “That’s better. I’m looking forward to working with you, Sho-kun.”
“Likewise, Sir.”
Letting Sho to at least settle a bit—his backpack seems to be filled with things that Ohno doesn’t want to know right now—Ohno takes a few moments to study the salient of the case files before he remembers he planned to make arrangements now that he has Sho working with him. “You can drive, right?”
“Of course,” Sho answers quickly before he turns to Ohno with a confused frown again. “You mean cars, Sir??”
“Of course,” Ohno says with an eye roll, but he’s already walking away from their cubicle and sets off in realizing his plan. “Be ready to go in 5 minutes.
He stands at the edge of the open office, his eyes scanning for the first floor Requisition Division person he can identify. Most of the people in the morning shift have gone to the field; only several desk officers are currently in the open office space. He finally finds an officer wearing orange armband over their uniform sleeves—the color of the Requisition Division—and just shout from where he stands. “Kiriyama!”
The officer startles at Ohno’s shout, but instead of coming over to where Ohno stood, the man is confusedly looking around as if searching for someone else.
Ohno is not having any of it. “Kiriyama, I’m talking to you.”
“But, I’m— Sir, I’m not—,” this Kiriyama tries to explain, his palms up on his chest as if in surrender, even as he approaches Ohno cautiously. But one look at Ohno’s cold stare and demanding authority has the man quickly rectified his reply. “Yes. Yes, Sir!”
Requisition department people always make this kind of fuss everytime Ohno has something he needs; he’s itching to go on the field already today so he wastes no time to make his request. “We need a car, a decent one. My partner will be driving.”
“Sir!”
At least the man was quick in saluting Ohno before running back to the division cubicle. Ohno can see the man is causing a bit of commotion around the division corner and be satisfied with the chaos he created as he sees this Kiriyama and several of his fellow officers scrambling to comply to Ohno’s order.
He turns and walks back to their cubicle, and finds Sho already standing in attention with his backpack. He heads to his desk to get his coat and the case file before turning to Sho again. “Grab what you need, we’re heading out as soon as they give us a car.”
He was about to comment on Sho’s small smile, wonderment or maybe amusement Ohno can’t tell immediately when this Kiriyama appears at their cubicle with a car key and a stack of forms. “Here you go, Sir. You will need to complete all the forms first though. Kiriyama-san will be here shorty, and since I can’t personally authorized—“
“He’ll do it later,” Ohno says, gesturing this Kiriyama to hand both the key and document to Sho. “We need to be in the field now.”
“Yes, Sir!” This Kiriyama answers in reflex, with a salute to Ohno. He steps forward, still cautiously, to Sho with a much more relaxed expression. “Sir, please finish those documents by the end of the day. And please, please, don’t crash the car again.”
“I said he’d be driving. The car will be fine,” Ohno cuts him with an annoyed gruff as he does a swift turn to put on his coat with a flourish. He then turns to this Kiriyama who appears curious about Sho and is now standing next to him. “Which lot?”
The man snaps to attention and salutes Ohno again. “Basement 3, lot 24, Sir.”
“Thanks,” Ohno says as he turns to leave their cubicle. “You heard him, Sho-kun. Let’s go.”
There’s a sound of rush and commotion behind him, but Ohno pays no heed and strides back to the elevator bank. He waits impatiently for one, and when it dings and opens he quickly steps in. When he turns to press the basement button, he sees Sho is running toward the elevator—he sighs, there goes the hope of having a moment for himself before they need to go on the field. He reluctantly presses the hold button and waits for Sho to enter the elevator with him.
When the door closes Sho is out of breath next to him, hugging his large backpack with his hand holding a stack of messy documents.
Ohno sighs, taking the messy documents and making sure nothing is going to fall out any time soon, before slotting it between Sho’s chest and his backpack, less chance for them having to stop just because Sho’s document are scattered away. He doesn’t want to waste time now, his thought already trying to line up the briefing information for later in the crime scene.
“Ah, thank you, Sir.”
“I told you to grab what you need. Not bringing everything with you.”
“This is what I need. All of them,” Sho says rather stubbornly. He’s leaning on the far end elevator wall, still out of breath. “Sir.”
The elevator dings again, and they arrive on Basement 3. Ohno decides that it’s too annoying and early for them to argue about what Sho’s bringing to the crime scene. It is because of Sho now they can get a car—those Requisition people are so adamant to always reject Ohno’s request about driving a car. They can resolve that later. Now they need to head to the crime scene. “Fine.”
*
Ohno has expected more annoying crowd in front of the house, but they arrive at a minimum barricade and just a few street officers keeping guard at the entrance. He goes straight to meet the first on-scene responder officers, getting the salient report he needs before ordering Sho to take his statement formally.
He enters the living room and sees that while the crime scene people are scattered around the room with their equipment, a man with fluffy jacket and bright orange sneakers is still hunched down examining the body.
Ohno goes to the kitchen first, taking in the tidy counter and one grocery bag still lying around neglected. He looks around and notes there’s no clear sign of violent struggle from where he’s standing—simple living room in a simple house, old furniture kept tidy and clean, no personal pictures on the wall, and underneath the smell crime scene chemical stuff there’s an underlying of rose scent.
Interesting.
He pads back to the living room, over the body, and crouches next to the man. He squints at the sight of blood smears near the body’s hand. “Is that her dying message or something? That’s some ugly handwriting.”
“Don’t say rude things in front of them,” Aiba elbows him without turning, still examining the kill slashes on her neck—now that’s definitely a clear sign of violence, Ohno notes.
He lets Aiba has his space and asks a crime scene person for a photo of the blood smear. He receives an instant photo and holds up the photo carefully. He feels Sho approaching him quietly, and asks. “Did it really say: ‘don’t be sad I’ll be here’”?
“What is that, Sir?” Sho now crouches next to him, still carrying his backpack; really, Ohno will soon have enough with that backpack. “I guess it did say that, but I’m not really sure, is it ‘here’ or ‘there’.”
Ohno only nods. They will get that cleared up once he received lab results, but now since Aiba is here they might as well hear his prelim opinion. “Is it that bad, Aiba-chan?”
“It’s always bad,” Aiba says with a shrug; switching back to seriousness as he looks down to the body between them. “This is definitely not a self-termination. My initial reading shows that it might poison or perhaps internal injury, the neck wounds most likely to be postmortem, but I need to take her in to be sure.”
Ohno doesn’t reply, already calculating that he will need to return to the morgue, but between interview and some fieldwork he’d be able to do that tomorrow.
Ohno sighs and closes his eyes.
The silence between them lingers for another minute with the muted sound of the crime scene people working on the other sides of the house them. Ohno feels Aiba’s patience on his left while Sho’s curiosity is being distracting on his right.
“Tell you what, Oh-chan,” Aiba finally breaks their silence.
Ohno ignores the sound of Sho’s loud gasp next to him—his surprise of hearing Aiba informally addressing him is understandable—and opens his eyes to turn to Aiba.
“Give me 12 hours max, and I’ll have the report hand-delivered to you.” Aiba sighs as he fixes the cloth to cover the cold body. “She’s been here for a while and I don’t fully trust my prelim reading. Too many inconsistencies here, I need to take everything to the lab. I’ll get Nino push on the fiber and tox screen too.”
That’s a good enough offer, Ohno has to agree. While it is not a hot case, his scene walkthrough tells him almost nothing. Sho has offered to do the basic e-digging but Ohno has this feeling that said there’s more than what’s it seems in glance. “I’ll drop by tomorrow after lunch then. I want to hear Nino’s take on this.”
“I’ll be waiting then,” Aiba says as he finally turns to Ohno and catches the sight of Sho next to him. “Ah, hello, I don’t think I’ve met you before. Are you with Oh-chan?”
“I— I am,” Sho answer, and then he awkwardly holds out his hand in front of Ohno to shake Aiba’s in introduction. “Sakurai Sho. Tech Detective.”
“Nice to meet you, Sho-chan,” Aiba says with a friendly smile, his hand accepting Sho’s offer easily. “I’m Aiba from the morgue office.”
.
“Yes, the famous Death Doctor,” Sho says with a polite nod and a hint of a smile. “I heard a lot about you.”
Aiba laughs. “I hope it’s all the good things.”
Ohno has held his eye roll long enough, and really there’s no need to prolong introduction here, in front of the dead body. He slaps Aiba and Sho’s joined gloves hand. “Break it up, will you. Some of us are trying to work here.”
Sho quickly pulls his hand, murmuring, “Sorry, Sir” while Aiba only laughs again.
They part with Aiba at the house entrance, and Ohno decides he needs to make round in the neighborhood, trusting Sho to follow him along.
It’s a quiet neighborhood, Ohno notes, and a rather upscale residential area. There’s a park just behind the house; Ohno points out the park to ask for Sho to wait for him there while he goes checking the entry points and the possibility of breaking in from the small alley just up the house. He walks back and forth the small alley, finding several entry points from here, whoever has knowledge of the neighborhood can easily go inside the house through here.
He returns a few minutes later to find Sho sitting on a bench with his tablet on his hand and two steaming coffee to go cups next to him.
It’s cold outside—Ohno doesn’t want to know how Sho can procure coffee—and he is not going to refuse hot coffee offer.
Standing next to the bench, Ohno sips his coffee—he can really get used to having Sho as partner if this is what he’s getting—and stares at the window of the house. Being here in the park here gives him a direct view to her house, and that is also something to take into account.
“You better be busy checking those CCTV footages.”
Sho startles from his focus, and looks up to nod at Ohno. “I am, Sir. I have also broadened the request to cover both stations. I’m having them sent to our office by late afternoon.”
Ohno nods at the progress report. That should cut all the work he usually had to do. There’s nothing much to do here on crime scene, and Ohno dreads the obligatory crime scene meeting he has to attend in the next hour.
“Have you worked violent murder cases before?” Ohno asks, finding himself curious because Sho has flinched noticeably when they were crouching next to the dead body and been looking considerably paler since then—Ohno is considering relieving Sho from tomorrow’s meeting with Aiba at the morgue. That won’t be a walk in the park.
Sho turns to meet Ohno’s eyes, something unreadable in his expression. “Officially yes. But I never had the chance to be in the field. My expertise is—“
“Tech crime. I know. I read your file,” Ohno cuts him, before Sho’s explanation becomes longer and heated.
Sho shrugs. “Then you probably already figure out that I didn’t have much hands-on experience in the field.”
Ohno has no problem in letting Sho work in the field, because that comes with his job now. But there’s also imminent risk that comes with being in the field. “But are you still training regularly?”
“Of course, Sir. It’s obligatory.”
Ohno has to hold his chuckles down. He remembers that Sho was the kind who did everything obligatory, adhering to the rules to the point of unbendable—whether it was just some stupid regulation of curfew back in the Academy, or what Ohno suspected, the habit is more ingrained now and showed in his work pace. Still, Ohno has to ask: “So you won’t have problems with running to save your life while being chased by a violent group of yakuza mob?”
Sho straightens in his seat, looking worried. “Are you suspecting this as a yakuza job?”
“I didn’t say that,” Ohno says with a wave of his hand.
They get into silence again—and Ohno is beginning to enjoy how he can see Sho’s wrecking his brain to get to the same conclusion.
It takes a while but Sho gets there. “So that’s why you’re wearing sneakers.”
“Huh?”
“I was wondering why since morning, but you are moving all the time, and of course it’s more comfortable,” Sho says, before he adds. “Sir.”
Ohno shrugs at that. “I’m not going to chase some suspects down the alley wearing dress shoes.” He makes sure Sho catches his glance to Sho’s dress shoes “Do you need me to order you to wear more comfortable shoes starting tomorrow?”
Sho lets out a small smile. “No, Sir. I’ll get to it.”
“Now pack up. We’re heading back.”
*
Ohno carelessly throws his coat to the back of his chair before turning to Sho. The man looks relieved to finally be able to put down his backpack—that should teach him a lesson, Ohno is sure. “I’ll do the murder board later when I get back from Crime Scene meeting. You know how to do reports and all the online filing system, right?”
“I do, Sir.”
Ohno nods as he taps pocket to make sure he has his phone with him. A glance at the clock on screen tells him that he better get going now if he doesn’t want to be late. “I’ll get one of the Requisition people to help you set up. I’ll be back in an hour or two.”
He doesn’t wait for Sho’s answer and leaves their cubicle to walk to the Requisition corner.
The young man behind the counter is not Kiriyama, or the other Kiriyama from this morning. Ohno frowns as he tries to remember the other’s name but the young man has already standing in attention and giving him a salute.
“I’m Nakama, Sir. How can I help you, Sir!”
The introduction saves the headache, Ohno sighs. At least this one knows him and looks eager to help. “Show my partner how things are done here. He’s in our cubicle. Provide everything he needs. And tell Kiriyama to report to me by the end of the day.”
Ohno is already a few paces away from the Requisition cubicle when he hears the enthusiastic “Yes, Sir,” and tells him to be satisfied with it. Sho can take care of himself for now, and Ohno has a boring meeting to attend to.
Almost two hours later, Ohno is in his most terrible mood; those superior people always think they know better, well guess what they didn’t. He was ready to snap at the first person—which most likely be Sho—who dares to ask how the meeting goes, when he turns to their cubicle.
The sight he saw made him stop short.
Sho and that Nakama from Requisition are sitting together and slurping ramen at the spare table. Sho has a paper he’s trying to read on his left hand while that Nakama is scrolling through something. There’s a new computer setup on what Ohno figures as Sho’s desk now and Ohno’s murder board is already set on the far end even if there’s only a few post-it on it now.
“What the—”
Sho looks up at the soft curse, and sets his spoon down to stand in attention, which prompted Nakama to jump from his seat and do the same.
“Sir, I’ve finished all the reports and they all are ready for your review,” Sho says before turning to Nakama to signal him to fetch something. When Nakama has hurried out their cubicle, Sho’s tone is softer. He actually let out a small smile at Ohno. “It’s past dinner time and I decided to order all of us dinner. I asked Nakama which place does delivery at this hour and I ordered soba for all of us.”
The mention of food distracts Ohno for a few moments, giving opportunity for Sho to lead him to his desk chair. Nakama comes back with a tray of what looks to be a delicious soba set. Ohno finds himself sitting by his desk, and Sho hovering close to him to arrange a pair of chopstick and shibori for him.
“You like cold soba, right? I hope I remember correctly. Sir,” Sho says, taking a step away from Ohno’s desk and looking satisfied with how Ohno’s still taken aback.
“I do. Thanks.” Ohno sighs and rolls his eyes—just why did Sho still remember that. The comforting scent of soba is definitely getting to him—lunch seems so far away now, whatever he was having then. With more work to be done—and he hates to admit that he’s thankful Sho didn’t ask anything about the annoying meeting—Ohno accepts the food silently by picking up the chopstick.
Sho returns to his seat to finish his food, leaving Ohno to enjoy his dinner. And Nakama excuses himself after giving Ohno a report, bowing his thanks to Sho and saluting Ohno properly.
In the quiet office, Ohno finds the presence of Sho working quietly on his desk and occasionally helping Ohno with printed document soothing. It’s been a long day for both of them and Ohno definitely does not need any unnecessary fuss. Ohno manages to set up half the board before he notices that it’s already a bit past 9 PM.
Ohno sends Sho’s home after ignoring his protests, after telling Sho that he will need to be back to the office earlier than Ohno the next day, and after one vicious glare that was so weak Ohno cannot even convinced himself.
And Sho finally relents and leaves Ohno to work into the night.
Grunting over the lack of coffee—maybe he should have made Sho buy some first before Ohno sent him home, but it can’t be helped—Ohno pushes through setting up the rest of his murder board. He lines up and scribbles the interview plans and visits they have to make tomorrow before deciding to call it a night.
When he steps out the cubicle, the light on the entire floor is off save for the Requisition Division. Passing by their cubicle to get to the elevator, Ohno sees another Kiriyama is fast asleep on his desk. Good, there’s a reason to yell at them all tomorrow.
Ohno welcomes the night air as he steps out from the building, quite pleased with how everything went down today, and begins his walk home.
*