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Morofushi almost doesn't hear the knock on the door before Yui steps into his office.
He pretends that his gaze doesn't skip away from the lone photo frame on his desk – the three of them with Aoi-san at her first book signing, Kansuke's reluctance at being dragged into the fray by Yui obvious even in a snapshot.
Yui-san, patron saint of tolerance that she is, either doesn't notice or pretends not to.
(Morofushi is fairly certain... no, he knows that it's the latter. Whatever her own opinions on the matter are, she's better at this job than more than half the people he's had the misfortune to work with – or, as Kansuke would say, the people who've had the misfortune to work with him.
If he were someone to believe in such romantic notions as destiny, he would've said that Yui was always meant to be a detective. Even if that sentiment is entirely to his own detriment, at the moment.)
"Sorry for barging in like this, but do you want to – " Yui says all in one breath, then stops, biting on her lower lip.
(Some part of Morofushi notes, in an almost detached sort of manner, that Yui hasn't acted like this around him since her first weeks at the job, when she was adjusting from Koumei-classmate-of-Kan-chan to Morofushi-colleague-of-Yamato-keibu-thank-you-very-much.
The observation is... slightly disconcerting, if he's to be honest. But only slightly.)
She smiles tentatively, and tries again. "Do you want to go out for lunch, Morofushi-keibu? We – I mean, Kan-chan and I – were thinking about going to that nice pasta place. You know, the one just out of town?"
The one that happens to be his preferred shop, insofar as he's critically ranked most of the reputable Italian establishments in Nagano? Yes, he does.
He smiles back, halfway and halfhearted. "It's quite alright, Yui-san, the two of you can go on ahead. I'm afraid I haven't had much of an appetite of late."
An understatement, if he's ever made one.
"I – okay." Yui nods, and he wonders briefly if Kansuke is hiding behind his office door, just out of sight. It seems entirely possible – even likely, considering. "Do you want us to buy something for you? We can stop by elsewhere on the way back, if there's anything in particular you'd prefer."
...is this another one of those trick questions where they'll buy something anyway and try to coerce him into eating.
Again, considering Kansuke, it probably is.
Yui is still looking at him, expression edging into something hopeful.
He looks away. "...no, that really won't be necessary, Yui-san. Don't worry about me. Please tell Kansuke-kun that I appreciate the gesture, though."
A brief wince flashes across Yui's face – she is entirely right, Kansuke's not going to enjoy that. "We'll be back in an hour, then. Maybe next time?"
It's like the photo is burned onto the back of his eyelids, every time he blinks.
("Perhaps, yes," Morofushi says, and doesn't mean it in the least.)
.
Kansuke doesn't even budge in the slightest when his rather pleasant nap is interrupted by the car door opening.
(Honestly. The click of Yui's shoes are all too recognisable. Maybe he should get her new ones for her birthday this year? Or less noisy ones, at least, she's never gonna be able to sneak up on a suspect like that.)
"Jeez, Kan-chan, you couldn't have at least texted to say that you were already at the carpark?" There's the sound of Yui flopping into the driver's seat on his right. "I was looking for you everywhere in the office!"
Kansuke sure as hell isn't putting his chair upright for this conversation. "What, you expect me to keep hanging around up there even with Koumei brooding loud enough to hear from the next room? And close the door, Uehara, you're letting all the cool air out."
The door closes with a sharp slam, and he wonders if he can get back to sleeping.
(He's barely even been to a crime scene all week, thanks to Koumei hogging all the cases, but his legs are still protesting for some dumb reason. Probably all that negative chi coming out from Koumei's office or something. Can't be good for the health.
And the passenger seat could do with some reupholstering, anyway, he should remember to do that at some point. Or get Yui to do it. Same difference, really.)
"Don't say that like you don't care, Kan-chan," Yui answers, her voice gone all soft and uneven.
Like when they were kids and she was trying very hard not to cry, his brain automatically supplies.
(His brain can stuff its wiseass cracks somewhere else. Kansuke informs it as much.)
"Well, you know." Kansuke squints one eye open a tiny crack to see Yui clenching her hands around the steering wheel, hard enough that her fingers have gone pale in the shitty lighting of the basement carpark. "Maybe I really don't."
"Kan-chan," says Yui, not looking at him, "you volunteered to go for lunch with Morofushi-keibu. To eat pasta. At his favourite shop. You never do that."
...he can't really argue his way out of that one. Fairly damning evidence. Good job, Uehara. "I don't know why you even bother. Just call him Koumei, it's not like he doesn't answer to it anyway."
"It's not like you don't answer to Kan-chan either, Kan-chan, and don't think I'm going to let you change the topic just like that."
At least she's not staring out the windshield now.
Kansuke sighs and opens his eyes properly, mostly so he can roll them at her. "I don't know what you expect me to say. Koumei's always been a stubborn asshole, if he's decided to bury himself in six feet of casework then even the sky falling down isn't going to stop him."
"But... I mean – we can't just leave him be. It's not what A–" Yui's voice catches for a second, " – what Aoi-san would've wanted, either."
"If you've got any better ideas, you're more than welcome to try." Kansuke shuts his eyes again, firmly, and makes sure his seat is as flat as it can go. "In the meantime, I'm going to sleep. And don't wake me up before we get there, or you're stuck on coffee duty for the next whole month."
"Idiot," he's fairly certain Yui says over the sounds of the car starting, "I already do that all of the time, Kan-chan."
"It's Yamato-keibu," Kansuke mumbles grouchily, already dozing off.
(He hears Yui laugh in his sleep. It's the only good thing he's heard all week.)
END
everything is fun and games until it's n o t