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Title: Jade: Chapter 2 (of 17)
Pairing: Akame. RyoxJin as brothers (not as a pairing). Various other characters.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, crime, romance
Multi-chapter
Disclaimer: I don't own them or anything else JE-related. But the story is mine of course^^
Summary: Tokyo, 1981: A young bride disappears, leaving no trace but an old necklace out of jade. No one has seen her, no one knows who she is. The woman that never existed.
Tokyo, 2011: Jin, a talented photographer, is known for his sixth sense when it’s about photos and other person’s emotions. When he gets the offer to work with Tokyo’s Criminal Investigation Department, he moves to Tokyo, together with his 16-year-old brother.
There he starts to work together with the skilled, but eccentric young detective Kamenashi Kazuya.They are part of the department for Cold Cases, where forgotten and never solved cases are investigated again. Despite their first rather bad impression of each other, they soon learn that their skills complement each other almost perfectly.
The case they are working on seems mysterious, but harmless: Jade, the woman that had been erased from everyone's memory. But soon Jin and Kame realize that with this case they are awakening a sleeping lion, bringing themselves and everyone they love and care for into danger. They suddenly fall into a network of intrigues, murders and threats. On top of that they are both hiding something from each other and from everyone else... something no one is supposed to know...
Dedicated to:![[info]](https://lilly0.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=87.4)
yukitsubute. She almost begged me to post it ^_____^ So, here it is!
When the sun shines,
When it’s raining,
When it’s cold,
When it’s hot,
When I feel sad,
When I feel happy,
When I feel thankful,
When I feel cold,
All I want is to be with you.
This is a curse. My curse.
Can't I be free?
“So everything you have is a newspaper article?” Jin asked curiously.
Kame sighed. “Yes. Apparently she wandered through the town in her wedding dress, crying, carrying the suitcase in her hand. Like you see it on the photo. Then she went into this park and didn’t return.”
“Eh?” Jin blinked. “Well, what’s so special about this place?”
“The park is not a park you can cross.” Kame explained in frustration. “You can’t walk through it because there is a huge wall.”
“No way to climb over it?” Jin wanted to know.
“Do you really think we didn’t check on that already?” Kame answered bitingly.
Jin rolled his eyes at that unfriendly remark, but decided to ignore Kame’s impatience from now on. “So she simply disappeared?”
“Yes, no one saw her leaving again. No trace, no corpse, absolutely nothing. That’s why the town actually called her a ghost. The only thing we have is the jade necklace.”
“Where did you guys find it?”
Kame laughed bitterly at that. “We didn’t find it at all. It was sent to us.”
Jin blinked in confusion. “You mean someone else found it?”
“Yes.” Kame nodded his head. “My Sensei, the guy who worked on this case back then when Jade disappeared, told me everything about it. I was still a child when all these investigations took place. So all the information I have is second hand of course. I got all of them from my Sensei and co-workers. From now on I have to find traces and information on my own.”
Jin nodded his head. “I understand. What kind of necklace is it?” he wanted to know. “An expensive one? Can you trace it to somewhere?”
“We tried to.” Kame mumbled, something in his eyes was twitching, making Jin frown in surprise. He didn’t know what it was…but something was off. Whatever it was though, Jin knew that it wouldn’t be useful to ask Kame now. Maybe later when they were doing their research on the case.
Kame sighed tiredly. “This is one of the most nerve-wracking and difficult cases.”
“So you prefer another one?” Jin asked.
“No!” Kame’s voice was unusually fierce and determined. “I won’t give up that easily.” He wanted to add that with Jin as a new help there was also a new chance, but then he didn’t say something like that. He was too proud. That his chief called a guy like Jin, who didn’t know anything about police work, to help him here was almost killing his pride and confidence. As if he couldn’t do it alone.
“Okay.” Jin nodded his head fiercely. “So it’s decided. We’ll take the Jade-case.” He smiled beamingly. “Sounds pretty interesting. I could take a closer look at the photo first. But I don’t think it will tell me much… But…” he paused.
“What?” Kame wanted to know.
“You know.” Jin started carefully. “A photography is not only about the person that’s in the photo, it also always includes the person who took it. The photographer’s feelings. It’s something personal in it. I think the person who took the photo was actually scared of her.” He paused, his eyes gleaming a bit. “If I had been taken the photo, I would have taken it differently.”
“How?” Kame wanted to know, trying to hide that he was actually really interested in Jin’s theory.
“Well… I guess I would have tried to capture her feelings, not the awkwardness of the situation. You know…” he mused. “She is so beautiful.”
“She is?” Kame blinked.
“Yes.” Jin smiled absent-mindedly. “It’s her eyes. I would have captured them. She is crying… but there is also something else…” He took a closer look at the picture. “I don’t know how to call it. The photo is not really good. But it looks like hope.”
Kame looked at Jin in serious confusion. “Hope?”
Jin shrugged. “That’s what I am seeing. Desperation and hope. It’s a contrast, all adding to her beauty and making it even more grotesque.”
Kame rubbed over his chin. “Apparently she left her groom. And all the traces got wiped away.”
“That means she is important?” Jin asked.
“That’s what I guess too.” Kame answered silently. “I never had a proof though.”
Jin smiled a bit. “A woman with her beauty for sure had friends.” he analyzed. “Where is she from?”
“Isn’t she clear Japanese?” Kame blinked in surprise.
Jin bent his head down to inspect the photo even closer, his nose almost touching the old paper. “I’m not sure.” He mumbled. “I can’t really tell it though… But there is something… her chin… it seems like she isn’t really Japanese.”
Something in Kame’s eyes sparkled out of a sudden. “Do you think you can find it out?” he asked in unusual excitement. “The photo is from 30 years ago… If we knew her origins, that’s definitely a clue! Back then Japan didn’t have that much migrants.”
“I can try to!” Jin nodded his head, happy that Kame approved of him. “There is something else…”
“What is it?” Kame asked, not hiding his curiosity anymore.
“It’s the way she is moving…” Jin mumbled. “It’s strange…”
“I can’t see anything strange in it.” Kame mused, feeling a bit angry that apparently Jin’s photographer-eye was able to see so many details.
“I can’t put a finger on it yet.” Jin mumbled. “But I’m sure there is something off…”
“Maybe it’s just the photo?” Kame suggested.
Jin frowned angrily. “Yeah, this photo is really crap.” he complained. “Can’t we get another one?”
“From what my former co-workers said, it was impossible. They were investigating this case back then. Most of them retired, also my Sensei. This here was his unicorn.”
Jin blinked. “Unicorn?”
“It was attracting him, as if it was a mysterious creature putting a spell on him. He wanted to solve it so badly. But he never did…” Kame paused, looking at Jin in slight displease.
Jin pulled an eyebrow up, wondering what kind of problem Kame did have now. “What?”
“As a newspaper-magazine guy you have connections, right?” Kame asked in frustration.
“Yes.” Jin grumbled, angry about Kame’s annoyed tune.
“The office that printed this old newspaper is still working in this town.” Kame explained half-heartedly. He still wasn’t over the fact that this newspaper office had never told any of the police officers anything about this article, the woman or who had taken the picture. Nothing. They simply had told Kame that there were no clues, they didn’t have the old documents anymore, they didn’t know the name of the photographer. When Kame’s old co-worker had asked for a list of photographer who had worked for them before, they even told them that they didn’t have one. It was a lie. A blunt lie. He knew it, his co-workers knew it, but there was no way to make this office tell them something.
Kame hated the fact that he had no other possibility but to rely on a guy like Jin for getting this information. He sighed. “We investigated this office of course. But apparently they got bribed or are afraid of something, because they kept telling us that they don’t have any old documents, nothing. When I re-investigated the case they said that all of the documents got destroyed. I had hoped for some photos… because how likely is it that the person taking the photo made only one? I’m sure he made a bunch of photos and chose out of some. Maybe there are clues on one of the other photos?”
“Do you know anything about the photographer?” Jin wanted to know.
Kame glared in frustration. “I asked for a list of photographers who had been working for them. But head of the office just kept tell me that they already destroyed the old documents.”
“That’s a lie.” Jin said out of a sudden.
“Eh?”
“Old newspapers and magazine documents don’t get destroyed. Never. Because they are historical material, they get stored, now they are slowly getting digitalized so that it won’t take so much room anymore. But they never get destroyed by a newspaper office. If something like that happened, it was an outsider doing it, but not themselves.” Jin explained.
Kame’s eyes widened at that. “Do you think the documents are still there?”
“Definitely. If not there, then somewhere else. But they are somewhere.” Jin assumed.
“Alright.” Kame jumped up, eyes gleaming in motivation. “I’ll talk to our chief. And you will check on the photo again to see if you can find something out.”
Jin frowned, but before he could complain about Kame’s superior tune, the latter was already rushing out of the room. Jin sighed, getting up to leave the room as well. Outside he met some of the police officers again. To his relief they smiled friendly.
“Difficult partner?” one of them teased, before he bowed a bit. “I’m Matsumoto Jun.”
Jin smiled friendly. “Akanishi Jin”. He turned to the other guy, his eyes widening out of a sudden. It was the pretty guy from the restaurant he went to with Ryo. One of the waiters, who reminded him so much of someone he knew. “I know you…”
The guy chuckled. “Do you?”
“I saw you in this Okonomiyaki restaurant yesterday.”
The other guy blinked. “Wow, you recognize a lot, right?” he smiled politely. “I’m actually not working here. But one of my friends does and since he is sick, I jumped in for him and helped Matsumoto-kun with some documents.”
Jun laughed. “Ueda-kun does that quite often. Helping us. He has quite some connections.” He chuckled. “Because he has around 100 jobs.”
“Well.” Ueda smiled. “I can’t decide. I like so many things, so I’m doing a lot of different jobs. On Mondays for example I’m teaching boxing in a school. On Weekends I am working part time at the Okonomiyaki shop you visited. Tuesdays I am helping my uncle, who is a doctor.” He shrugged. “And I have lots of jobs where I simply jump in when I’m needed. Like here for example.”
“Cool” Jin grinned. What an interesting guy. A bit strange, but interesting. He looked at Ueda curiously, then his eyes widened in surprise. His gaze shifted towards Ueda’s face, almost piercing him.
“Is something wrong?” Ueda asked uncomfortably.
“I know you.” Jin called out suddenly.
“Yes, from the Okonomiyaki story…”
“NO!” Jin shook his head. “I mean…I know you! You grew up so much that I didn’t recognize you immediately. You had longer hair back then. You were living in my neighbourhood, right? You were some years older than me, but we always went to the lake to swim, right?”
Ueda’s eyes widened, staring at Jin in disbelief. Then he smiled brightly “Wait… I remember. You are THAT Jin!”
******
“Is this your bento box?” Yamapi grinned. “Are you supposed to eat all of that?”
Ryo frowned at that. “I know. My brother is a bit stupid sometimes.”
Pi chuckled. “But he is a nice guy, right?”
Ryo sighed a bit. “He is.” he admitted, trying not to smile too brightly. “He really watches out well for me.”
Pi looked at Ryo carefully. “Your parents?” he asked nervously.
Ryo smiled a bit. “It’s okay, Yamashita-kun. Really. They died some years ago in an accident. Aniki is my guardian. I really love him, but sometimes he gets on my nerves.”
Pi chuckled a bit. “I guess that’s just normal, right?”
“I hope so.” Ryo grinned. Then he frowned. “I just don’t know what to do with this bento box. If I won’t eat it up completely, he will scold me later.”
“Why?” Pi wanted to know.
“You are too thin… your health is too weak… blah.” Ryo mimicked Jin’s voice.
Pi grinned at that. “Why don’t you simply throw it away?”
Ryo blushed a bit. “I can’t.” he admitted, smiling slightly. “He put so much effort into it… Maybe not everything of it is really good, but he worked the whole evening to prepare it. I can’t toss it away.”
“I understand…” Yamapi wanted to say more, but got interrupted by a tall boy, jumping to their side, just to lie down, putting his head in Ryo’s lap.
“Did I hear you talking about food?” the tall guy asked, eyes beaming. He turned his head a bit to watch Ryo’s face properly, an almost begging look in his eyes.
Ryo stared down at him in utter confusion and surprise, his bento box placed safely next to him, while the guy’s head was still resting in his lap. “Well…yes…” he stuttered.
“And did I hear you saying that it’s too much? And you can’t eat it all alone but won’t throw it away, because your brother made it for you?”
Yamapi frowned deeply, thinking that this guy was more than just persistent and impolite. “Why don’t you just say that you eavesdropped and heard our whole talk?”
The guy laughed, lifting his head a bit to look at Pi. “Sorry.” He stretched a bit, making Yamapi frown even more, apparently this guy was having a total sunny nature, for not getting embarrassed or upset in any way. “But whenever I hear food, I feel attracted.” He sat up now, making Ryo sigh in relief. The guy grinned. “You are new, right?”
“Yes.” Ryo smiled shyly.
“You are Ryo and you are Tomohisa, right?” the guy asked, not caring if it was impolite to only use their first name.
Yamapi was still wondering how to react to that when another guy appeared, a much smaller one. The guy blushed a bit in embarrassment when he saw the troubled expressions of Ryo and Pi and the cheerful grin of the other guy, apparently his friend. “Really Junno... you are too embarrassing to be true.”
“They talked about food, Koki.” Junno defended himself.
Koki obviously held back a sharp answer and turned away from Junno to look at the other two boys. “I’m Koki.” He introduced himself politely. “That’s Junno.” He paused. “Well, you already know him.”
Ryo and Pi had to grin a bit. This here sounded like quite some fun.
******
“And what kind of guy is this Kamenashi-kun?” Yuu asked when he helped Jin to prepare dinner. He was Jin’s childhood friend. Until now they had been living in different cities, but since Jin moved to Tokyo with Ryo, Yuu felt overly excited.
Jin rolled his eyes. “Is arrogant ass enough of an explanation?”
Yuu laughed. “But you are getting along with everyone.” He smiled. “This Kame-guy shouldn’t be a problem.” He leaned back. “Let’s think properly and gather his good points.”
Jin smiled a bit. “Like we did as kids?”
“Exactly.” Yuu grinned.
Jin chuckled. “Okay. He is smart and he is catching up really fast.”
“Good.” Yuu nodded his head. “What else?”
“He is…” he laughed a bit. “…determined.”
“You mean he is stubborn?” Yuu grinned. “Well, you can deal with stubborn! I know that.“
“Shut up, Yuu.”
Yuu chuckled. “Oh come one. Ryo is the king of stubborn.” he cut Jin off before he could complain, deciding to continue with his interrogation. “What else?”
“Well, he seems to be the type who doesn’t give up easily. And he is loyal I guess. Straight-forward. Honest.”
“Good.” Yuu smiled. “He doesn’t sound that bad.”
“I just hate his attitude.” Jin sighed.
“Well, maybe his attitude is some sort of self-defence?” Yuu suggested.
“Oh God, Yuu. Stop the psychology crap.”
“Hey.” Yuu pouted. “Better be happy to have a hobby-therapist as your friend! Just think of Ryo-chan, maybe you’ll need me one day?”
“It’s okay.” Jin grinned. “You are right, actually you are pretty amazing.” He bent forward a bit to taste his self made spaghetti sauce: curry, tomatoes and basil.
“And?” Yuu asked curiously.
Jin sighed. “Ryo won’t eat it…”
“That bad?” Yuu asked, trying to sound concerned, while all he could really think of was grinning like an idiot.
Jin frowned. “Funny. Really.”
“Sorry.” Yuu laughed. “I know you try really hard, but your cooking is actually always…” he wavered a bit. “…unique.” he added diplomatically.
Jin glared at Yuu, wanting so say something impolite, but when he heard some noise at the door, he stayed quiet. His eyes caught Ryo who slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. “Hey Ryo-chan.”
Ryo smiled a bit. “Hi.” He blinked when he saw Yuu. “You are here, again?”
“Ryo!“ Jin called out, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Could you be a bit more polite and a bit less oblivious?”
“Sorry.” the younger one smiled a bit. “I like Yuu-kun.” he added, actually sounding honest, so that Yuu grinned happily.
“Good to hear that.” Yuu smiled brightly.
“But you don’t like him more than you like me, right?” Jin complained, half-joking, half meaning it.
Ryo rolled his eyes at that, while Yuu merely laughed. “You are such a dork, really.” Ryo mumbled, but couldn’t help a grin when Jin hugged him out of the blue. He struggled a bit to get free again, before he curled his nose. “You are making dinner?”
“Yes.” Jin tried to sound convincing, then he sighed. “At least I tried to. But I think I failed. Maybe we should order something in? Pizza?”
Ryo glared. “Pizza again? It’s not really healthy!“
Jin sighed. “Sometimes I feel like you are the one lecturing me, not me lecturing you.”
“Sorry.” Ryo stuttered.
„It’s okay.“ Jin smiled again. “We can try to make my macaroni sauce a bit better. Then we can have dinner. And I’ll tell you about my nerve-wracking new partner.”
“Great!” Ryo grinned, happy about some new stories from Jin’s work. “I’ll help you with cooking.”
******
Kame sighed a bit when he got out of his car, stretching slightly. It was late. After his meeting with Jin he had felt surprisingly motivated. Jin had given him some important hints, maybe his chief was right, a photographer’s eyes did see different things. Hence Kame had made some preparations so that he and Jin would be able to start investigations with tomorrow.
It was already late at night when he came back home. Kame angled for his keys to open the door to his apartment, when his sharp eyes suddenly caught a shadow. With a jump he turned around, not seeing anyone, but hearing steps rushing down the staircase.
Kame’s eyes sparkled angrily. “Damn.” he cursed before he rushed down the stairs as well, trying to catch whoever was spying on him. But when he ran out of the apartment house there was no one on the street anymore. He could just see how a person jumped into a black car, driving away.
Kame leaned against the wall, sighing a bit. When would they stop doing that? When could he actually be free?
A/N: I have a general question to all of you: Next week Christmas holidays are starting. Do you still want an update or do you prefer a break? If you want to, I can update.
******
Note: Hey dear friends and readers! Thanks so much for all your support!! So, I wanted to tell you that my Request Post is open. If you feel like requesting a specific pairing or situation you can do so HERE
Pairing: Akame. RyoxJin as brothers (not as a pairing). Various other characters.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, crime, romance
Multi-chapter
Disclaimer: I don't own them or anything else JE-related. But the story is mine of course^^
Summary: Tokyo, 1981: A young bride disappears, leaving no trace but an old necklace out of jade. No one has seen her, no one knows who she is. The woman that never existed.
Tokyo, 2011: Jin, a talented photographer, is known for his sixth sense when it’s about photos and other person’s emotions. When he gets the offer to work with Tokyo’s Criminal Investigation Department, he moves to Tokyo, together with his 16-year-old brother.
There he starts to work together with the skilled, but eccentric young detective Kamenashi Kazuya.They are part of the department for Cold Cases, where forgotten and never solved cases are investigated again. Despite their first rather bad impression of each other, they soon learn that their skills complement each other almost perfectly.
The case they are working on seems mysterious, but harmless: Jade, the woman that had been erased from everyone's memory. But soon Jin and Kame realize that with this case they are awakening a sleeping lion, bringing themselves and everyone they love and care for into danger. They suddenly fall into a network of intrigues, murders and threats. On top of that they are both hiding something from each other and from everyone else... something no one is supposed to know...
Dedicated to:
yukitsubute. She almost begged me to post it ^_____^ So, here it is!When the sun shines,
When it’s raining,
When it’s cold,
When it’s hot,
When I feel sad,
When I feel happy,
When I feel thankful,
When I feel cold,
All I want is to be with you.
This is a curse. My curse.
Can't I be free?
“So everything you have is a newspaper article?” Jin asked curiously.
Kame sighed. “Yes. Apparently she wandered through the town in her wedding dress, crying, carrying the suitcase in her hand. Like you see it on the photo. Then she went into this park and didn’t return.”
“Eh?” Jin blinked. “Well, what’s so special about this place?”
“The park is not a park you can cross.” Kame explained in frustration. “You can’t walk through it because there is a huge wall.”
“No way to climb over it?” Jin wanted to know.
“Do you really think we didn’t check on that already?” Kame answered bitingly.
Jin rolled his eyes at that unfriendly remark, but decided to ignore Kame’s impatience from now on. “So she simply disappeared?”
“Yes, no one saw her leaving again. No trace, no corpse, absolutely nothing. That’s why the town actually called her a ghost. The only thing we have is the jade necklace.”
“Where did you guys find it?”
Kame laughed bitterly at that. “We didn’t find it at all. It was sent to us.”
Jin blinked in confusion. “You mean someone else found it?”
“Yes.” Kame nodded his head. “My Sensei, the guy who worked on this case back then when Jade disappeared, told me everything about it. I was still a child when all these investigations took place. So all the information I have is second hand of course. I got all of them from my Sensei and co-workers. From now on I have to find traces and information on my own.”
Jin nodded his head. “I understand. What kind of necklace is it?” he wanted to know. “An expensive one? Can you trace it to somewhere?”
“We tried to.” Kame mumbled, something in his eyes was twitching, making Jin frown in surprise. He didn’t know what it was…but something was off. Whatever it was though, Jin knew that it wouldn’t be useful to ask Kame now. Maybe later when they were doing their research on the case.
Kame sighed tiredly. “This is one of the most nerve-wracking and difficult cases.”
“So you prefer another one?” Jin asked.
“No!” Kame’s voice was unusually fierce and determined. “I won’t give up that easily.” He wanted to add that with Jin as a new help there was also a new chance, but then he didn’t say something like that. He was too proud. That his chief called a guy like Jin, who didn’t know anything about police work, to help him here was almost killing his pride and confidence. As if he couldn’t do it alone.
“Okay.” Jin nodded his head fiercely. “So it’s decided. We’ll take the Jade-case.” He smiled beamingly. “Sounds pretty interesting. I could take a closer look at the photo first. But I don’t think it will tell me much… But…” he paused.
“What?” Kame wanted to know.
“You know.” Jin started carefully. “A photography is not only about the person that’s in the photo, it also always includes the person who took it. The photographer’s feelings. It’s something personal in it. I think the person who took the photo was actually scared of her.” He paused, his eyes gleaming a bit. “If I had been taken the photo, I would have taken it differently.”
“How?” Kame wanted to know, trying to hide that he was actually really interested in Jin’s theory.
“Well… I guess I would have tried to capture her feelings, not the awkwardness of the situation. You know…” he mused. “She is so beautiful.”
“She is?” Kame blinked.
“Yes.” Jin smiled absent-mindedly. “It’s her eyes. I would have captured them. She is crying… but there is also something else…” He took a closer look at the picture. “I don’t know how to call it. The photo is not really good. But it looks like hope.”
Kame looked at Jin in serious confusion. “Hope?”
Jin shrugged. “That’s what I am seeing. Desperation and hope. It’s a contrast, all adding to her beauty and making it even more grotesque.”
Kame rubbed over his chin. “Apparently she left her groom. And all the traces got wiped away.”
“That means she is important?” Jin asked.
“That’s what I guess too.” Kame answered silently. “I never had a proof though.”
Jin smiled a bit. “A woman with her beauty for sure had friends.” he analyzed. “Where is she from?”
“Isn’t she clear Japanese?” Kame blinked in surprise.
Jin bent his head down to inspect the photo even closer, his nose almost touching the old paper. “I’m not sure.” He mumbled. “I can’t really tell it though… But there is something… her chin… it seems like she isn’t really Japanese.”
Something in Kame’s eyes sparkled out of a sudden. “Do you think you can find it out?” he asked in unusual excitement. “The photo is from 30 years ago… If we knew her origins, that’s definitely a clue! Back then Japan didn’t have that much migrants.”
“I can try to!” Jin nodded his head, happy that Kame approved of him. “There is something else…”
“What is it?” Kame asked, not hiding his curiosity anymore.
“It’s the way she is moving…” Jin mumbled. “It’s strange…”
“I can’t see anything strange in it.” Kame mused, feeling a bit angry that apparently Jin’s photographer-eye was able to see so many details.
“I can’t put a finger on it yet.” Jin mumbled. “But I’m sure there is something off…”
“Maybe it’s just the photo?” Kame suggested.
Jin frowned angrily. “Yeah, this photo is really crap.” he complained. “Can’t we get another one?”
“From what my former co-workers said, it was impossible. They were investigating this case back then. Most of them retired, also my Sensei. This here was his unicorn.”
Jin blinked. “Unicorn?”
“It was attracting him, as if it was a mysterious creature putting a spell on him. He wanted to solve it so badly. But he never did…” Kame paused, looking at Jin in slight displease.
Jin pulled an eyebrow up, wondering what kind of problem Kame did have now. “What?”
“As a newspaper-magazine guy you have connections, right?” Kame asked in frustration.
“Yes.” Jin grumbled, angry about Kame’s annoyed tune.
“The office that printed this old newspaper is still working in this town.” Kame explained half-heartedly. He still wasn’t over the fact that this newspaper office had never told any of the police officers anything about this article, the woman or who had taken the picture. Nothing. They simply had told Kame that there were no clues, they didn’t have the old documents anymore, they didn’t know the name of the photographer. When Kame’s old co-worker had asked for a list of photographer who had worked for them before, they even told them that they didn’t have one. It was a lie. A blunt lie. He knew it, his co-workers knew it, but there was no way to make this office tell them something.
Kame hated the fact that he had no other possibility but to rely on a guy like Jin for getting this information. He sighed. “We investigated this office of course. But apparently they got bribed or are afraid of something, because they kept telling us that they don’t have any old documents, nothing. When I re-investigated the case they said that all of the documents got destroyed. I had hoped for some photos… because how likely is it that the person taking the photo made only one? I’m sure he made a bunch of photos and chose out of some. Maybe there are clues on one of the other photos?”
“Do you know anything about the photographer?” Jin wanted to know.
Kame glared in frustration. “I asked for a list of photographers who had been working for them. But head of the office just kept tell me that they already destroyed the old documents.”
“That’s a lie.” Jin said out of a sudden.
“Eh?”
“Old newspapers and magazine documents don’t get destroyed. Never. Because they are historical material, they get stored, now they are slowly getting digitalized so that it won’t take so much room anymore. But they never get destroyed by a newspaper office. If something like that happened, it was an outsider doing it, but not themselves.” Jin explained.
Kame’s eyes widened at that. “Do you think the documents are still there?”
“Definitely. If not there, then somewhere else. But they are somewhere.” Jin assumed.
“Alright.” Kame jumped up, eyes gleaming in motivation. “I’ll talk to our chief. And you will check on the photo again to see if you can find something out.”
Jin frowned, but before he could complain about Kame’s superior tune, the latter was already rushing out of the room. Jin sighed, getting up to leave the room as well. Outside he met some of the police officers again. To his relief they smiled friendly.
“Difficult partner?” one of them teased, before he bowed a bit. “I’m Matsumoto Jun.”
Jin smiled friendly. “Akanishi Jin”. He turned to the other guy, his eyes widening out of a sudden. It was the pretty guy from the restaurant he went to with Ryo. One of the waiters, who reminded him so much of someone he knew. “I know you…”
The guy chuckled. “Do you?”
“I saw you in this Okonomiyaki restaurant yesterday.”
The other guy blinked. “Wow, you recognize a lot, right?” he smiled politely. “I’m actually not working here. But one of my friends does and since he is sick, I jumped in for him and helped Matsumoto-kun with some documents.”
Jun laughed. “Ueda-kun does that quite often. Helping us. He has quite some connections.” He chuckled. “Because he has around 100 jobs.”
“Well.” Ueda smiled. “I can’t decide. I like so many things, so I’m doing a lot of different jobs. On Mondays for example I’m teaching boxing in a school. On Weekends I am working part time at the Okonomiyaki shop you visited. Tuesdays I am helping my uncle, who is a doctor.” He shrugged. “And I have lots of jobs where I simply jump in when I’m needed. Like here for example.”
“Cool” Jin grinned. What an interesting guy. A bit strange, but interesting. He looked at Ueda curiously, then his eyes widened in surprise. His gaze shifted towards Ueda’s face, almost piercing him.
“Is something wrong?” Ueda asked uncomfortably.
“I know you.” Jin called out suddenly.
“Yes, from the Okonomiyaki story…”
“NO!” Jin shook his head. “I mean…I know you! You grew up so much that I didn’t recognize you immediately. You had longer hair back then. You were living in my neighbourhood, right? You were some years older than me, but we always went to the lake to swim, right?”
Ueda’s eyes widened, staring at Jin in disbelief. Then he smiled brightly “Wait… I remember. You are THAT Jin!”
******
“Is this your bento box?” Yamapi grinned. “Are you supposed to eat all of that?”
Ryo frowned at that. “I know. My brother is a bit stupid sometimes.”
Pi chuckled. “But he is a nice guy, right?”
Ryo sighed a bit. “He is.” he admitted, trying not to smile too brightly. “He really watches out well for me.”
Pi looked at Ryo carefully. “Your parents?” he asked nervously.
Ryo smiled a bit. “It’s okay, Yamashita-kun. Really. They died some years ago in an accident. Aniki is my guardian. I really love him, but sometimes he gets on my nerves.”
Pi chuckled a bit. “I guess that’s just normal, right?”
“I hope so.” Ryo grinned. Then he frowned. “I just don’t know what to do with this bento box. If I won’t eat it up completely, he will scold me later.”
“Why?” Pi wanted to know.
“You are too thin… your health is too weak… blah.” Ryo mimicked Jin’s voice.
Pi grinned at that. “Why don’t you simply throw it away?”
Ryo blushed a bit. “I can’t.” he admitted, smiling slightly. “He put so much effort into it… Maybe not everything of it is really good, but he worked the whole evening to prepare it. I can’t toss it away.”
“I understand…” Yamapi wanted to say more, but got interrupted by a tall boy, jumping to their side, just to lie down, putting his head in Ryo’s lap.
“Did I hear you talking about food?” the tall guy asked, eyes beaming. He turned his head a bit to watch Ryo’s face properly, an almost begging look in his eyes.
Ryo stared down at him in utter confusion and surprise, his bento box placed safely next to him, while the guy’s head was still resting in his lap. “Well…yes…” he stuttered.
“And did I hear you saying that it’s too much? And you can’t eat it all alone but won’t throw it away, because your brother made it for you?”
Yamapi frowned deeply, thinking that this guy was more than just persistent and impolite. “Why don’t you just say that you eavesdropped and heard our whole talk?”
The guy laughed, lifting his head a bit to look at Pi. “Sorry.” He stretched a bit, making Yamapi frown even more, apparently this guy was having a total sunny nature, for not getting embarrassed or upset in any way. “But whenever I hear food, I feel attracted.” He sat up now, making Ryo sigh in relief. The guy grinned. “You are new, right?”
“Yes.” Ryo smiled shyly.
“You are Ryo and you are Tomohisa, right?” the guy asked, not caring if it was impolite to only use their first name.
Yamapi was still wondering how to react to that when another guy appeared, a much smaller one. The guy blushed a bit in embarrassment when he saw the troubled expressions of Ryo and Pi and the cheerful grin of the other guy, apparently his friend. “Really Junno... you are too embarrassing to be true.”
“They talked about food, Koki.” Junno defended himself.
Koki obviously held back a sharp answer and turned away from Junno to look at the other two boys. “I’m Koki.” He introduced himself politely. “That’s Junno.” He paused. “Well, you already know him.”
Ryo and Pi had to grin a bit. This here sounded like quite some fun.
******
“And what kind of guy is this Kamenashi-kun?” Yuu asked when he helped Jin to prepare dinner. He was Jin’s childhood friend. Until now they had been living in different cities, but since Jin moved to Tokyo with Ryo, Yuu felt overly excited.
Jin rolled his eyes. “Is arrogant ass enough of an explanation?”
Yuu laughed. “But you are getting along with everyone.” He smiled. “This Kame-guy shouldn’t be a problem.” He leaned back. “Let’s think properly and gather his good points.”
Jin smiled a bit. “Like we did as kids?”
“Exactly.” Yuu grinned.
Jin chuckled. “Okay. He is smart and he is catching up really fast.”
“Good.” Yuu nodded his head. “What else?”
“He is…” he laughed a bit. “…determined.”
“You mean he is stubborn?” Yuu grinned. “Well, you can deal with stubborn! I know that.“
“Shut up, Yuu.”
Yuu chuckled. “Oh come one. Ryo is the king of stubborn.” he cut Jin off before he could complain, deciding to continue with his interrogation. “What else?”
“Well, he seems to be the type who doesn’t give up easily. And he is loyal I guess. Straight-forward. Honest.”
“Good.” Yuu smiled. “He doesn’t sound that bad.”
“I just hate his attitude.” Jin sighed.
“Well, maybe his attitude is some sort of self-defence?” Yuu suggested.
“Oh God, Yuu. Stop the psychology crap.”
“Hey.” Yuu pouted. “Better be happy to have a hobby-therapist as your friend! Just think of Ryo-chan, maybe you’ll need me one day?”
“It’s okay.” Jin grinned. “You are right, actually you are pretty amazing.” He bent forward a bit to taste his self made spaghetti sauce: curry, tomatoes and basil.
“And?” Yuu asked curiously.
Jin sighed. “Ryo won’t eat it…”
“That bad?” Yuu asked, trying to sound concerned, while all he could really think of was grinning like an idiot.
Jin frowned. “Funny. Really.”
“Sorry.” Yuu laughed. “I know you try really hard, but your cooking is actually always…” he wavered a bit. “…unique.” he added diplomatically.
Jin glared at Yuu, wanting so say something impolite, but when he heard some noise at the door, he stayed quiet. His eyes caught Ryo who slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. “Hey Ryo-chan.”
Ryo smiled a bit. “Hi.” He blinked when he saw Yuu. “You are here, again?”
“Ryo!“ Jin called out, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Could you be a bit more polite and a bit less oblivious?”
“Sorry.” the younger one smiled a bit. “I like Yuu-kun.” he added, actually sounding honest, so that Yuu grinned happily.
“Good to hear that.” Yuu smiled brightly.
“But you don’t like him more than you like me, right?” Jin complained, half-joking, half meaning it.
Ryo rolled his eyes at that, while Yuu merely laughed. “You are such a dork, really.” Ryo mumbled, but couldn’t help a grin when Jin hugged him out of the blue. He struggled a bit to get free again, before he curled his nose. “You are making dinner?”
“Yes.” Jin tried to sound convincing, then he sighed. “At least I tried to. But I think I failed. Maybe we should order something in? Pizza?”
Ryo glared. “Pizza again? It’s not really healthy!“
Jin sighed. “Sometimes I feel like you are the one lecturing me, not me lecturing you.”
“Sorry.” Ryo stuttered.
„It’s okay.“ Jin smiled again. “We can try to make my macaroni sauce a bit better. Then we can have dinner. And I’ll tell you about my nerve-wracking new partner.”
“Great!” Ryo grinned, happy about some new stories from Jin’s work. “I’ll help you with cooking.”
******
Kame sighed a bit when he got out of his car, stretching slightly. It was late. After his meeting with Jin he had felt surprisingly motivated. Jin had given him some important hints, maybe his chief was right, a photographer’s eyes did see different things. Hence Kame had made some preparations so that he and Jin would be able to start investigations with tomorrow.
It was already late at night when he came back home. Kame angled for his keys to open the door to his apartment, when his sharp eyes suddenly caught a shadow. With a jump he turned around, not seeing anyone, but hearing steps rushing down the staircase.
Kame’s eyes sparkled angrily. “Damn.” he cursed before he rushed down the stairs as well, trying to catch whoever was spying on him. But when he ran out of the apartment house there was no one on the street anymore. He could just see how a person jumped into a black car, driving away.
Kame leaned against the wall, sighing a bit. When would they stop doing that? When could he actually be free?
A/N: I have a general question to all of you: Next week Christmas holidays are starting. Do you still want an update or do you prefer a break? If you want to, I can update.
******
Note: Hey dear friends and readers! Thanks so much for all your support!! So, I wanted to tell you that my Request Post is open. If you feel like requesting a specific pairing or situation you can do so HERE
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I don't care about the holidays, please update soon! (n______n)
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Yes, Kame is being spied on. ><
I promise, I'll updated this week ^___^ (Thursday)