Trying to explore a perspective that hasn't really been touched on in the fandom and that we don't really know much about. Tell me what you think.
Haruka Shibazaki remembers that moment when Sphinx Number One revealed his face to the world, for she thought that he looked like her father. There was something in the shadows beneath his eyes, and the slow smile he gave, that echoed the detective so well it was almost spooky. Of course, the notion was utterly ridiculous. If her father had sired another child, he sure as hell would have made sure that the kid didn't become a terrorist. And in any case, that theoretical kid didn't exist, because for all his foibles, he loved her mother. She knew this.
But the weird thoughts almost disappeared when the bomb went off, when the sky illuminated itself. And yet, Haruka still thought of him. Moments ago, she had spoken to him on the phone-before they had stopped working, of course-and he was still there, still in the centre of Tokyo. Ready to catch the terrorists, she supposed. She should have realised, right from the beginning that this was the type of case that he had been waiting for all these years. The last thing he had ever worked had sent him into Archives. It was possible that this would be able to bring him back into the realm of what he did best-inexplicable riddles. And it did.
But it did so much more. It opened up a whole can of worms, revealed truths that many would have wanted to keep hidden-Japan's shame, one newspaper called it. But opening cans of worms was another one of her father's things. He was obscure, and sometimes spoke in the riddles he liked to solve, but he liked the truth, sought to reveal it. And of course he would fight for children who had been mistreated by the adults who should have known better. Of course he would. It was surprising to her to realise that the clues had been there all along, that it was perfectly obvious that he was that kind of person. But throughout her childhood, she'd thought him difficult and frustrating. It was only now, after Sphinx had left behind their legacy that she understood him a little better.
Not that it was that simple. There were more surprises to come. About three weeks after the media frenzy had died down somewhat and things were getting back to normal, Haruka went to visit her family for the weekend and found a teenage girl in the spare room. A pretty girl, with soulful eyes and boyishly short hair with a fringe that fell into her eyes. She seemed nice, but didn't say a word, simply nodding or shaking her head to her questions.
"Who is that?" she asked her mother. Her father was at work, but he'd be coming back later that evening.
"Oh, you're talking about Lisa-Chan? Poor girl, she was being kept hostage by Sphinx. And her mother's in hospital. "
"And she's here because…?"
"Who do you think?" Haruka's mother winked at her.
"Wait, this was Dad's idea?"
"Well, of course. She had nowhere to go. And she won't talk, not to anyone. "
"And he doesn't mind that?"
"She seems to get on with him. And, I think in a way, he looks at her and thinks of you."
"What?"
At that point, her mother had changed the subject and started prattling on about lunch. Until her father came back, she tried to make headway with the girl-Lisa-thinking that maybe she'd talk to her as she was…outside of all of this. It didn't work, but she did let her listen to the music she had on an old battered music player-foreign music, with a haunting sound. And when he did come back, she observed him with Lisa.
And it was just like looking back to her teenage years.
He talked to her, mostly asking questions that she could simply gesture to, otherwise she wrote her responses and he read them before moving on to the next thing seamlessly. It was usually about the case, about getting information about Sphinx, but sometimes he told her the myths that he'd read to Haruka herself as a child, or otherwise he plucked a random topic from the air. But sometimes, they just sat and he'd read a book or look at paperwork while she did work her school sent her or gazed out of the window. He was just there.
And it had been the same, with her. Whenever Haruka despaired over homework or had a fall-out with friends or was wailing over a boy. He'd been there. He hadn't necessarily talked to her about it, hasn't always given her consolations or advice. He was just there, waiting until the storm died down. And then, he'd go off and do something completely obscure that, if it didn't solve the problem, at least went some way to helping do so. But at ages 13 and 14 and 15 and 16, she hadn't seen that. Even as she left home and went to Uni, then stayed to do a Master's Degree, she had only seen the man who would occasionally call her up to ask obscure physics-related questions relating to some case or another, the person who didn't like her barley tea and who was incredibly bull-headed.
But now, as she watched him with a lost girl, she could see it. She could see it all. And damn, she was lucky. Kenjirou Shibazaki may not have been a conventional man, father, detective or anything, really. But Sphinx picked him to expose their actions and the reason behind them. When Lisa Mishima started talking again, it had been to him. Her mother loved him as much as he did her. Even if he was a real pain at times, Haruka always looked forward to his visits. And even if she couldn't really see the reason why this was all that clearly, it didn't matter.
He was her father, and that was all there was to it.
Random aside: Guess how I came up with the title?