Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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Late April in New York was still on the chilly side. A faint breeze slipped through the window, carrying a trace of coolness mixed with the fresh scent of grass from a lawn mower in the distance.
Sitting by the window against the light, Ritsu set his book aside with interest and studied the girl seated across from him.
"Need something?"
His voice was deep, like Gin's but unlike Gin's, it was cool and restrained, carrying a subtle warmth. If you closed your eyes, you might imagine a calm, refined young man.
Shiho quickly glanced at the book he had been reading and said evenly, "I came to the library on a whim. Didn't expect you to actually be here."
"And?"
"I figured if we might be working together in the future, I should at least know your name."
Ritsu felt he might have overestimated her observational skills. Or perhaps she simply wasn't used to interacting with others, she hadn't even noticed that anyone entering the lab had to wear their student ID on their chest.
With his left index finger, he tapped the badge clipped to his chest, silently indicating his name.
Like most people, Shiho briefly thought he was showing off the platinum ring on his hand. But soon, her attention shifted to the information on his ID.
Next to the two-inch photo were his name and major:
Nanase Toru — Biochemistry.
"That's a pretty uncommon surname. Is Alex your real name?"
"Yeah. My English name is Alex Felton."
Alex Felton… it did sound nice.
Shiho didn't bother introducing herself, he had clearly already seen her ID.
"Can I ask you about some of the material in that book?"
"Sure."
Shiho didn't continue the small talk. She simply opened the book he had written and began reading again. Whenever she came across something she didn't fully understand, she asked him.
She even felt… he was more helpful than her professor.
Ritsu hadn't expected to become a free tutor. When thinking, his left thumb habitually rotated the ring on his finger, it was the only thing he hadn't been willing to take off.
From April 26 to May 15, over the course of just twenty days, Ritsu and Shiho met almost every day, discussing academic topics.
Aside from that, neither of them pried into the other's personal life.
After obtaining the commonly used name "Nanase Toru," Gin quickly verified the fabricated identity prepared by the National Police Agency. Finding no issues, he tacitly approved Shiho bringing him to the Tokyo research facility after graduation.
Standing by the window, Ritsu gazed out into the night.
The dark sky held only a few scattered stars. Without the moon, the night felt cold and desolate.
It reminded him of a line from One Hundred Years of Solitude:
"Everyone appears lonely, doing everything they can to escape loneliness yet in reality, they only prolong it. Loneliness is the curse placed upon those who live in groups; solitude is its only escape."
Right now, the only thing easing that loneliness… were the emails from people who still cared about "Ritsu."
["Ritsu, why haven't you contacted me? Did something happen?"]
["Hey Ritsu, you didn't get into trouble and go into hiding, did you? Reply when you see this."]
["Sasajima Ritsu! Why aren't you answering calls or emails?! Hey… reply already! Don't keep me waiting too long, got it? I'm still waiting for you to treat me to a big meal, idiot!"]
["Ritsu, it's the class rep. I asked at the MPD… you resigned? I don't know what happened, but please reply."]
["Ritsu-ya, where did you go? Everyone's worried… I'm really worried too. If you see this, just send a reply so I know you're okay… please?"]
The loneliness was gone.
In its place was a heavy, suffocating feeling in his chest.
"…I can't reply."
He deleted every message. Then he noticed a new email sent just one minute ago.
It was much longer, written with delicate phrasing and full of emotion, along with plenty of emoticons.
Clearly from a girl.
Since the day after his resignation, Hayasaka had been sending him nightly "diary" emails, writing about her role in cases, whether her new superior had praised or scolded her, what she ate each day… all the little details of her life.
It was… strangely interesting.
["There were no cases today, so I felt kind of bored (ω), but then I realized that's a dangerous way to think, haha! I still hope Tokyo becomes safer, fewer murders would be best! ヾ(▽)ノ That's it for today. I'm off to meet Mamoru Chiba in my dreams. Good night! (＞＜)"]
Mamoru Chiba again.
She really was devoted.
After deleting the message, Ritsu set his phone to silent mode. Like a child who hadn't quite grown up, he flopped onto the bed and reached over to turn off the bedside lamp.
'Good night. Hopefully tomorrow will be peaceful as well.'
May 16
At last, the first significant milestone of his new identity.
Ritsu stared expressionlessly at himself in the mirror, dressed in a doctoral gown.
Back when he applied to the police academy, he had never considered pursuing graduate studies. Yet now, in just twenty-one days, he had "achieved" a PhD.
A blessing in disguise, perhaps?
Columbia's doctoral gown had a fresh look—light blue as the main color, accented with black. Fortunately, his fair complexion suited it well. On someone with a darker complexion… it might not look as fitting.
Arriving at the school gate, he picked up the bouquets he had pre-ordered. After paying, he received two beautifully wrapped bundles of red roses.
Since he wasn't familiar with the meanings of flowers, he had even looked it up beforehand to avoid misunderstandings.
#How many roses should you give to friends or colleagues?#
The best answer: ten.
Ten roses symbolize perfection, ten out of ten, a fitting blessing for friends or colleagues.
Carrying the bouquets, he walked toward the seating area for biochemistry graduates.
There were plenty of girls with tea-colored hair…
But not many under five feet tall.
What surprised him was—
Why had this short girl chosen the very last row?
"Here."
The sudden appearance of red roses startled Shiho. She turned her head in confusion and didn't take them right away.
"Pursuing a minor is illegal."
"Ten roses symbolize perfection, it's just a blessing. Can you not jump to conclusions? Besides, just pursuing someone isn't illegal… at most, it's morally questionable."
"…Oh."
Shiho accepted the bouquet, secretly feeling a bit happy.
Her favorite color was red. Her favorite flower was roses.
She hadn't expected the first bouquet she ever received to come from someone she had known for only twenty-one days.
Her future colleague?
But the thought that she might be dragging him into a dangerous abyss made her hesitate.
Even if she let him go now, Gin would undoubtedly track him down no matter what.
The guilt lingered, dampening her mood.
"Not happy even after receiving flowers? Looks like those Yahoo answers were wrong."
"What?"
Seeing her half-lidded, speechless expression, Ritsu lightly tossed his phone in his hand.
"When I searched Yahoo earlier, it said girls are always happy when they receive flowers."
"…Do you always use Yahoo to look up things like that?"
"If I don't understand something, I look it up. That's how you get answers."
"Fair enough."
She couldn't argue with that.
Though she still thought, he was kind of strange.
"I've been meaning to ask you something."
"What?"
Ritsu looked at her seriously.
"Why don't you use honorifics when speaking to me?"
There was an eight-year age gap between them. By all rights, he was her senior.
"You don't get to tell me how to talk."
…Fair enough.
He really couldn't.
After all, she might end up being his superior at the research facility in the future.
In that sense.
This could be considered early "training" in a non-honorific relationship between boss and subordinate.