"...I want to ask your opinion on whether I should continue working as a detective, or not..."

As much as he would try to deny that it bothered him a bit, Utsumi's words that day kept coming back to his mind.
It was disturbing.

The more he tried to recall the memory, the more he recalled how pale Utsumi had looked that day. And somehow, a thought kept coming to mind. That Utsumi also had appeared tired, fatigued. Burnt out. That realisation was what sparked the small hint of worry, that kept on growing bigger and bigger afterwards.

He suddenly thought of Ishigami, and couldn't help feeling something familiar about how his old friend had seemed then... and how Utsumi had appeared that time when she came to Lab 13.

And then he recalled how Kuribayashi exclaimed how she appeared there suddenly like a ghost.

Was it just him? Overthinking things? Perhaps Utsumi wasn't really facing some unknown difficulties that would require his concern. That this was all a product of his own imagination. Perhaps.

But he couldn't help feeling that something was wrong.

This is illogical. And frustrating.

After making that vague statement a few days ago, she should know better to come back again to tell him that everything (whatever it was she was having problem with, back then) turned out to be fine.

That way, he wouldn't have had to worry.

xxx

He looked up some of the news articles from the last few days to see if Utsumi was in any way involved in an investigation. And then he found it. One case about a supposed false arrest incident involving a man called Jounen Kenichi as well as another case related. In which Utsumi uncovered the real truth regarding the Saruwatari case. And the Jounen guy wasn't completely innocent too.

The news articles mentioned that both cases were resolved nicely. Still, it didn't explain his current dilemma.

If Utsumi managed to solve a case on her own without having to ask for his help, shouldn't she come to visit him afterwards? Even if he didn't do anything to help solve the recent case, Utsumi did come to him for a personal consultation. And usually, after each case she solved, Utsumi would visit him later to give him a report of the aftermath. It was unnecessary of her to do that, but by now he got used to that.

Enough that not having her repeating that behaviour again be considered uncharacteristic of her.

xxx

His phone rang suddenly as Kusanagi took out his phone to see that Yukawa was calling him. Puzzled, he set aside the report he was working on before answering the call.

"Must be something urgent for you to be calling me like this," he started to say as Yukawa's next few words stopped him on his track.

"Did something happen to Utsumi?"

Kusanagi let out a startled yelp. "Huh? What did you mean—shouldn't you be calling her to ask that yourself instead of me?"

"Ah... sorry. I should've done that... but I was contemplating whether or not if I should and I thought—it's just a conjecture anyway..."

"Wait!" A thought suddenly crossed his mind as he listened to Yukawa's voice. Kusanagi bit his lips. Yukawa's timing to call him at this time seemed like a good opportunity... but he needed to make sure.

"You... why did you call me to ask about Utsumi?"

"Umm... it's nothing. Just that she haven't been visiting for a while so I thought something must've happened—well, I'll just give her a call..."

"Utsumi took a leave for a few days," Kusanagi said immediately. "Rather than giving her a call, how about you go visit her at her place?"

A brief silence, before he could hear Yukawa let out a long sigh.

"Something did happen to her in the last case, right?

Kusanagi shrugged. "It's not too bad... but there was a slight issue when she tried to corner a suspect to get him to confess. She's not hurt badly... but I can see how much the case had taken a toll on her. So I told her to take a few days off."

He sighed. "She's fine now, but why don't you go visit her anyway?"

"What are you not telling me?"

Yukawa's voice sounded slightly irritated, that Kusanagi couldn't help chuckling at it. "Well if you're worried about her that much, you might as well check on her with your own eyes. Bye!"

"Hey—!" he could hear Yukawa's voice objecting before Kusanagi turned his phone off. He let out another sigh before glancing back to his unfinished report.

Utsumi made him promise not to tattle on Yukawa on what happened to her when she tried to get Jounen to reveal his true self. But seeing her try to keep herself together on her own, hurt him a lot just watching. And then he heard a bit more from Detective Touma on the aftermath of the incident.

Knowing Utsumi and her pride as a detective, he refrained from saying anything much to try to console her. Yet, he couldn't just do nothing to help. A part of him always wondered what he could do to cheer his fellow colleague up again. Sending Yukawa to her doorstep might be the best thing he could do for her.

Kusanagi grinned to himself at his own brilliant idea before frowning. Suddenly he remembered something important before hastily calling on his old friend.

xxx

The doorbell rang, as Utsumi wondered who would come to visit her so suddenly. There was no prior notice, and she was off-duty as it was. When she opened the door, she almost let out a scream.

Smiling to her from outside the door, was Associate Professor Yukawa Manabu from Teito University.

Random venture to this old fandom... cos mun have no control of when the muse struck.