"What a long hit! It keeps flying farther! It's a triple! Number Four, Kogure from the Sora-to-Sora team, has finally brought some scoring excitement to the stadium despite the heavy rain!!"
The passionate voice of the commentator rang out from the television, and Tetsuji excitedly shouted,
"Beautifully done!"
Yuzo turned around with a smile. "Father, you're a fan of the Kagoshima Sora-to-Sora team, aren't you?"
"That's right, absolutely."
"But you really didn't have to keep watching it all the way over here."
"I can't help it. The satellite signal at our villa still isn't working," Tetsuji complained a little pitifully. He had wanted nothing more than to take a nice bath and watch the game comfortably under the blankets.
The commentator's voice came from the TV again,
"Batter out! We're now in the bottom of the sixth inning, and the Sora-to-Sora team continues their fierce offensive!"
Tetsuji nodded in satisfaction when the commentator suddenly added after receiving an update,
"The game will now be temporarily interrupted. It is exactly nine o'clock, and our station will now bring you five minutes of news coverage."
"Huh?"
Right when he was fully absorbed in the game, the broadcast abruptly switched to news about Typhoon No. 1. Tetsuji looked like an old child who had just had his toy snatched away, his thick eyebrows twitching furiously.
"It's only the sixth inning and it's already nine?" Yuzo asked, clearly showing he knew a fair bit about baseball as well.
Ritsu glanced at the time on his wristwatch and explained, "The typhoon caused several rain delays, so the game was interrupted a few times and pushed back."
Ayako walked in pushing a small serving cart filled with sliced fruit and cherry juice meant to help people sleep.
"Ayako, do you have a radio here?"
"Uncle, this game isn't being broadcast on the radio," Shinichi replied while flipping through a newspaper, obviously seeing right through Tetsuji's intentions.
Ayako smiled as she handed him a glass of cherry juice. "Please don't be so impatient, Uncle. Have some cherry juice first. There's plenty of fruit too."
"Haha, thank you very much, Ayako." Tetsuji turned toward his youngest son and sighed emotionally.
"Yuzo, you really are lucky. Compared to you, my other two sons are hopeless."
Perhaps recalling some unpleasant thoughts, Tetsuji began grumbling,
"My eldest son, Taichi, stubbornly refuses to inherit the family business and insists on becoming some kind of novelist. He's still single too.
As for my second son, Tatsuji, although he works at the company, he secretly got engaged to some woman with a completely unknown background!"
Yuzo's expression stiffened. Lowering his head, he muttered in protest, "Come on, Father… stop speaking badly about my brothers."
"Hmph!" Tetsuji snorted unhappily. "You're no better, Yuzo. All you do every day is paint those useless pictures and play with those pointless paints!"
Yuzo clenched his fists and stood up. He clearly didn't want to hear any more.
"Yuzo, you—"
"Ayako, I'm going to the studio first… I still need to finish the final touches on an illustration. It's almost done."
Noticing the worried look in Ayako's eyes, he walked over and softly reassured her, "Don't worry. I'm already used to Father criticizing me. I'm fine."
"Okay. Don't stay up too late."
"I won't."
Tetsuji knew his lecturing had upset his youngest son. With a stern expression, he said,
"If Yuzo weren't so stubborn and just obediently came to work at the company, I'd definitely arrange a good position for him."
Naturally, parents hoped their children would inherit their legacy, especially in a massive financial group like the Tomizawas. After all, wealth should stay within the family.
Tetsuji shook his head and sighed helplessly. He wasn't getting any younger, and if his three sons had shown even the slightest interest in taking over, he wouldn't have had to worry so much.
Ritsu noticed the baseball game starting up again and skillfully changed the subject to lighten the somewhat heavy atmosphere.
"Tomizawa-san, the game's started again. How about we make a bet… do you think there'll be a home run later in the game?"
"Oh? Sure, hahaha! Onizawa, you know baseball too?"
"Yeah. I used to play when I was in school."
"Oh? Which team were you on? What position did you play?"
Clearly, the conversation had shifted to a topic Tetsuji genuinely loved, and he quickly forgot the earlier unpleasantness.
"I played while studying abroad. I was a pitcher."
"A pitcher, huh? Heh, I faced plenty of strong pitchers back when I played too."
The old man and the young man chatted away enthusiastically.
Shinichi, who knew almost nothing about baseball, couldn't join the conversation at all. He could only prop his chin on both hands and watch the game on television along with them.
As he watched… he started getting sleepy.
"A walk-off home run! Nine to eight! In the bottom of the eleventh inning of extra innings, the Sora-to-Sora team has finally ended this evenly matched game!"
"Yeah! Amazing! Onizawa, looks like you won the bet! Is there anything you want? I can buy you something as a prize."
Ritsu hadn't expected his luck to be that good and for a home run to really happen at the end. It seemed he always wasted his luck on useless things.
Shaking his head, he declined.
"Tomizawa-san, it was just a casual bet without stakes. I'm a police officer, after all."
"Hahaha! Good! There aren't many honest cops like you these days!"
Tetsuji stood up and glanced at his watch. "It's getting late. I'll head back to my villa now. You all should get some sleep too."
At the villa entrance, Tetsuji held up an umbrella and smiled.
"Ayako-chan, tomorrow I'll bring my three sons over for a visit. Thank you for your hospitality today."
"It was my pleasure, Uncle. See you tomorrow."
They watched as Tetsuji disappeared into the thunderstorm toward his own villa.
Shinichi yawned tiredly. "Uwaaah… I'm exhausted. Uncle Tomizawa really has a lot of energy."
"That's because he was doing something he loves," Ritsu replied with a light chuckle.
"True. If I were at a crime scene, I'd never feel sleepy."
"…"
Everyone looked helplessly at Shinichi as he let out two more consecutive yawns.
Couldn't this guy say something more auspicious for once? In a place like a crime scene, of course nobody would feel sleepy.
Ayako smiled gently. "It's getting pretty late, so we should all rest soon. Kudo-san and Onizawa-san, please come with me. Since the guest rooms haven't been cleaned yet, would it be okay if the two of you shared one room?"
"Yeah! That's fine!"
Ritsu desperately wanted to refuse, but since he was a guest in someone else's home, he had no choice but to agree. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at Shinichi suspiciously.
This guy couldn't still be remembering that "bedtime story" he was promised, could he?
Dong. Dong. Dong.
As they passed through the corridor, the antique grandfather clock chimed loudly.Ayako looked at the time on the clock and exclaimed in surprise,
"Oh my, it's already eleven-thirty? I need to clean up the mess in the living room quickly."
But the moment she finished speaking, thunder exploded outside, and every light in the house instantly went out, plunging everything into pitch-black darkness.
"The power's out?"
"Looks like it," Sonoko said as she walked toward the window and pointed outside.
"Look, Uncle Tomizawa's villa doesn't have any lights either. The lightning must've caused a blackout across the whole area."
Rumble—
Lightning flashed amidst the roaring thunder, briefly illuminating everyone's surroundings.
"Hm? Look, there's someone over there!"
"Who is that person? What are they doing?"
Shinichi casually glanced out the window and his expression changed instantly. "Sonoko, Ran! Get away from the window!!"
The man wearing a beige knit cap and a face mask slowly turned toward the people standing by the window.
Those familiar eyes. And the splattered blood staining his face.
All of it declared one thing,
This would be a sleepless night.