Hello, everyone. This time we decided to write story about Shinobu and Genpachi! They're so adorable together! *squeals* We would like to tell you that you might find some real-life Japanese government and law enforcement institutions on this story but, again, none of the conflict and characters on those institutions existed. It's purely the author's fault for watching too much Japanese detective-themed doramas. Well, then...enjoy!

MPD : (Tokyo) Metropolitan Police Department

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Chapter 1 : Phone Call

"Go! Go! Go!"

Inukai Genpachi ran upstairs with some police officers following behind. Their steps echoed through the empty, abandoned building near Kabuki-cho Nichome. Early this morning, he had gotten a report that the building had been used as illegal gambling place. The owner was also wanted by police since several months ago for fraud and illegal drug possession. Such things happened a lot in this area. The Tokyo's most famous red light district was the place where pleasure and crime were connected by thin thread. For Genpachi who had been assigned in Shinjuku area since he had joined the law enforcement, dealing with this kind of crime was everyday's business. Today was not that bad; at least it was not a case of homicide—gosh, enough with hosts killing each other. Running around to catch criminal was obviously not fun at all but he could bear with it. He was a good runner, thanked to those younger days doing marathon.

"Inukai-san, he's at the rooftop!" One of officer in uniform informed him.

Genpachi nodded. His brain automatically began to calculate the next move—opened the rooftop door, approached the criminal calmly, told him to put his gun down, caught the criminal, and...done. Too bad it was not as easy as it looked. The criminal would probably keep running until the edge of rooftop and say something to threaten the police officers—stupid move, why those people never learned from past mistake?—then the officers would back off a little before roughly pinning the criminal onto cold hard rooftop floor. Or, the worst case scenario...

"If you get any closer, I'll jump!" shouted the criminal who had already stood about forty centimeters away from the edge of rooftop. He lifted up an army knife and pointed at Genpachi.

"No, you won't," said Genpachi calmly, "You don't want to end your life. Give up already. You're not going anywhere." If it had been an action movie, he would have approached the criminal with a gun in hand. Too bad life ain't that sweet, Genpachi muttered under his breath. He glanced a police officer in uniform, gesturing him to approach the criminal from another side. The officer nodded slightly before carefully took a step. Genpachi drew a breath and continued, "Listen, you better give up and face the trial instead of jumping from there. Don't do..." Genpachi saw a movement from the corner of his eyes. Two officers were coming toward the criminal. "...anything stupid."

And those officers tackled the man within seconds. The criminal shouted and cursed, struggling to get away from two of them. Genpachi hurriedly snatched away the knife from his hand then sighed in relief. "Take him to the station," Genpachi said, patting the two officers' shoulder, "You guys are the best."

The officers grinned before dragging the criminal out of the building where the police cars were waiting with its load siren. Genpachi followed them while checking his e-mails and text messages on smart phone. When he just reached the entrance, his phone rang loudly. Genpachi frowned as he recognized the caller ID.

"Oi, Gen, busy day?" said a man on the phone.

"As always," replied Genpachi, glancing at the criminal shoved into one of police cars, "What do you need, Nachi?"

Genpachi swore his friend and fellow detective, Hinozuka Nachi, was smirking right now. "I just want to warn you. The old men demanded your presence for next meeting. Think that they've enough with all your excuses. Or...you better work your brain harder to make smarter excuse. How's that sound?"

"Perfect," said Genpachi in sarcasm, "I shall buy earplugs for the meeting. Would you like me to buy you a pair too?"

"Nah, I'm good. I have my iPod."

The two detectives ended the phone call with snicker.

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Shinjuku Police Station was located at among skyscrapers. The station looked so small especially if compared with Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Around six hundred people worked at the station, making it the biggest police station in Japan. For some people, being assigned at Shinjuku was a great experience as a cop. The ward had everything there; government building to business complexes and of course red light districts. Moreover, even though Japan had low criminal rate, the criminal activities still happened in Shinjuku quite frequently—from pick-pocketing to murder. However, for certain people, working at Shinjuku Police Station was so tiring. Law enforcement career barely knew vacation, except perhaps for certain ranks of police officers. It also depended on what section they were assigned too. For people who worked for criminal investigation section, catching criminal and doing paperwork were daily basis. Surviving allnighter only with horrible food from convenience store and cheap coffee was to be expected.

"Don't we have budget to get another cabinet in this room?" A man in his early thirties sighed as he stared at an empty space next to a shelf. "There's no way we can put more file into that poor thing." He pointed at a cabinet which had overloaded stacks of folders inside then grumbled, "At this rate, I must give up my desk. I barely can sit properly without having my elbows hit those piles of file!"

"Well, actually we only need to tidy up the investigation and report files. I think most of those will fit inside the cabinet," said the oldest and most senior man at the room, smiling.

"Yamaguchi, stop complaining. Our chief is right." Another deep voice joined their conversation. Genpachi entered his unit room holding two boxes of evidence from the last criminal investigation. "But, Chief," the man continued as he turned his head to the older man, "I think you also should ask for additional budget."

The man who was called 'Chief' hummed and tapped his finger on table surface lightly. He smiled again. "I'll think of something," replied Unit Chief Sakamoto Eiichi, "Then...how's the investigation so far, Inukai-kun?"

Yamaguchi and Chief Sakamoto spun on their seat to face a white board with so many papers and handwriting on its surface. Putting his boxes on the top of some random files, he began his explanation to his colleagues, "According to witnesses, some suspicious looking people entered the apartment building where our victim lived before. Since about two months ago, two particular people were seen exiting the victim's apartment around midnight. One of them was identified as Sato's inner circle, while another one is—"

"Wait, wait. Kato?" Yamaguchi interrupted, "You mean Kato as in..."

"Yes, Kato Takafumi, the man we caught at abandoned building in Nichome a week ago." Genpachi nodded and Chief Sakamoto gestured him to continue. "Apparently he's quite involved with Shiou Branch from Senkou Group."

"Do we need to inform MPD's organized crime control bureau?" asked Yamaguchi to Chief Sakamoto, "They've been watching Shiou Branch for long, right, Chief?"

Chief Sakamoto gave a vague nod while Genpachi pretended not seeing anything. The man continued with his explanation. He only stopped when his unit's other three members came back from another long investigation. Genpachi took a brief look at his surroundings. Another ordinary boring day to pass, he noted. If people though earning a living as a detective could lead into extraordinary working pattern, it was not entirely true. There was a pattern—investigation, catching or chasing criminals, paperwork, and so on. When Genpachi finished talking, Chief Sakamoto decided that it was time for lunch. Their colleagues cheered in delight and left for office cafeteria and convenience store across the street.

Genpachi was about to enter convenience store when he heard a ringtone sound from his smart phone. The man smiled as he recognized the ringtone he had set for that phone number. "Hello, Shinobu."

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The maple leaves had turned into red color and slowly piled up on the grass ground. In the end of November, the wind was getting stronger and the temperature was slowly dropping. People had changed their thin, short sleeved clothes into warmer ones. Less and less students spent their lunch time at garden, avoiding the cold wind. The pond area which was always full during spring and summer looked really lonely today. Only several students were seen sitting at benches but they did not stay too long. When the stronger wind blew their hair, they hurriedly went inside school building. A group of three freshmen ran through first floor corridor while jokingly shoved each other. Suddenly one of them bumped into someone.

"No running at corridor," said that person. The three freshmen looked up to see a blond student looking back at them. His turquoise eyes were and dazzling, reminded people of Great Barrier Reef from bird's eye view.

"Uhm...I'm...uuh, we are sorry, Senpai," one of the freshmen stuttered, "We...uhm..."

"That's okay," said the blonde, smiling, "Just be careful next time."

They nodded then resumed their walking quickly. The student who had talked to the blonde sighed in relief, earning an arched eyebrow from his friends. "Even though he isn't student council secretary anymore, Inue-senpai always looks very charismatic," he whispered.

"I don't think charismatic is a right word. Mesmerizing?" Another boy, the tallest among them, glanced over his shoulder. He saw the blonde was still standing on his previous spot but he was not alone. The blonde was talking to some students he recognized as student council members. "I don't know about this," continued to boy as he turned to his friends, "but some people said that he has been accepted to medical school through recommendation."

"He's good looking and has brain," the last boy whined, "Life's not fair..."

His two friends laughed while nudging him on ribs, unaware of a pair of turquoise eyes staring at them.

Inue Shinobu only smiled at the three first year students. It reminded him so much of his days as freshman. Running through corridor, sneaking behind teachers, club activities... Gosh, he would miss those things so much. By next spring, he would leave this high school and enter university. No more uniform and heavy books on his bag. Shinobu turned around and continued walking to second floor where his classroom was located. His eyes wandered throughout the window glass only to find gloomy autumn sky. He sighed as he remembered winter was coming soon. He did not really like winter. He did not like its cloudy sky and cold feeling on his feet and fingertips. Shinobu was not a fan of heavy winter coat—it made him looked like a balloon. He hoped his uncle would not drag him all the way to for skiing and ice skating for winter break.

Speaking of his uncle... Well, Hazuki seemed to be in a very bad mood because Shinobu had said he would not spend this weekend at home. He had promised his friend—a girl named Hamaji—to go to museums together with her boyfriend for so-called...double date. Shinobu groaned inwardly. He wondered how Hamaji concluded that he was dating someone. No, he did not date anyone. He was just...yes, he was just close to this person. Hamaji had laughed at that statement—saying that Shinobu had had no idea what he had been talking about.

Shinobu pulled out his smart phone, staring at its screen as if it was staring him back. The blonde went through the contact list absentmindedly and stopped when he saw one name. If Hamaji had been here, the girl would have grinned madly at him. Shinobu shivered at the thought. He unconsciously tapped a dial sign on his smart phone. The boy gasped and he tried to cancelled the call. Too bad the other person had picked the call first.

"Hello, Shinobu." A deep, too familiar voice echoed through his ear. Shinobu did not say anything. "Shinobu?" The man asked again, this time with a hint of concern, "Are you there?"

Oh, well...

"Yes, Genpachi-san." Shinobu answered while straightening his back. He leaned against a wall next to window. "I just want to remind you about tomorrow."

"Oh, the museum? Sure, I won't miss it," replied Genpachi in light tone, "What are you doing now, Shinobu?"

"Me? Hmm, let's see..." His eyes went back to the window, looking down to grassy ground with colorful dried maple leaves on its surface. "I just came back from cafeteria."

Genpachi laughed. "Lunchtime chaos?"

Shinobu laughed too. The cafeteria always turned into a battle field during lunchtime, thanked to limited edition special lunch box and super delicious melon bread. Shinobu often brought his own lunch box to school but sometimes he just completely forgot. "It was like The Hunger Games without any arrow," Shinobu said, "I bet you're having lunch now? Convenience store?"

"The greatest place to get lunch ever," replied Genpachi, followed by voice of man on background. It seemed that Genpachi at cashier counter. "So...I'll see you tomorrow?"

Shinobu smiled. "Yes. Have a good da—"

"Wait, wait!" Genpachi cut him off. "What about dinner? My treat."

The first thing Shinobu had learned about Genpachi's character had been his impulsive nature. The man often call him out of the blue to get dinner or afternoon coffee together. Sometimes Genpachi just showed up when Shinobu was hanging out with his best friend. Shinobu—much to his own surprise—did not mind. It felt like listening to audio novel whenever Genpachi told him about criminal cases the black haired man had solved. They also shared same interest in books and American TV series even though the man barely had time to watch TV.

"You mean, tonight?" Shinobu asked back. "But we..."

"...are going to meet tomorrow, I know." Genpachi continued, "Listen, you don't have to—"

Shinobu could not suppress his smirk anymore. He finally said, "Felicitá? Seven fifteen?"

"Felicitá, seven fifteen." Genpachi repeated.

Now, Shinobu needed to tell his father that he would not join them for dinner. He hoped his uncle would not be hopping mad since the man did not get along that well with Genpachi. Tonight was going to be very interesting.

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tbc