For the fifth time that day, Inspector Tsunemori silently reprimanded herself for nodding off at her desk.
Every month at this job taxed more and more of her personal time, and last night was especially difficult. She had only managed a few hours of dreamless sleep after all of the paperwork she had pored over.
But this was important. Since Kougami had been wrongfully removed from the Makishima case, the pair had been secretly working together on it themselves, providing their findings when they had a few spare moments alone. Akane would share what was currently happening in the research, while he would flick through numerous overflowing binders he had created himself, confirming and denying whether the division was heading in the right direction.
Perhaps these meetings were not completely lawful, but in her mind it would ultimately rule out in favor of true justice.
That was enough for her.
"Missy, are you alright? You seem to be lost in your work."
She straightened in surprise, victim to her sleep deprivation once again.
"I apologize Mister Masaoka. I've just been a little worn out after some paperwork from last night, that's all." She offered a weary smile.
"I say you're overworking yourself lately! You ought to leave on time and get some proper rest." He looked at her in his concerned father role he so easily slipped into.
"You're still so young, you should be giving yourself time to unwind."
She giggled a little at that. It felt like her days of carefree relaxation were buried in the past, but it would be nice to have a little time to herself without shouldering these cases. Speaking of…
"Where are the others, by the way?" She had looked up and realized that aside from Ginoza, they were the only ones present in the room.
"Why Missy, didn't you hear Ginoza call for a break five minutes ago?"
She stared at him blankly. She could recall no such thing, but if that were the case..
"No, but I should probably find Kougami if that's true!"
She stood up, stumbling a little at the sudden blood rush to her head, grappling for the case file on her desk.
"He wanted to go over some findings from this morning!"
"Are you sure? He might be.." He trailed off as Akane was already halfway down the hallway, looking at him over her shoulder.
"Ah..nevermind. Just remember that we leave at 1:30 sharp. Get some caffeine while you're at it!"
Her face pinked at the insinuation of her apparently all-too-obvious fatigue.
"I will!" she called, and she was off, keeping a brisk pace to the enforcers quarters.
Third door on the right, she silently confirmed as she knocked softly on his door.
"Mister Kougami, I have news! You were right with that hunch about his presence in the..."
She was talking while letting herself in, but stopped dead when she caught sight of the man in question blinking up at her through bleary eyes from the couch.
"OH! Were..were you asleep?" Her face rapidly heating at the realization of what she had done.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." He was looking at the clock from the enforcers band around his wrist, brows furrowing at the projected '1:07'.
"I'm so sorry!" She squeaked out, holding the folder to her face to hide her embarrassed features. "I thought..I..do you normally sleep at this hour?"
"Nah, I only catch a few hours at night, so I usually take naps whenever I can."
"Ah...is that healthy?"
"If you haven't noticed yet inspector, I do a lot of things that aren't necessarily considered 'healthy'." He let out a yawn, barely covering it with a hand.
Akane laughed nervously, caught the infectious action and let out a huge yawn herself.
"It sounds kind of nice actually, I haven't taken a nap since grade school," she replied lightly while rubbing an eye.
The enforcer was staring at her, concerned.
"You still can. There's a break room and everything. Did you sleep last night, inspector?"
"I couldn't do that! It's such an open space!", blanching at the suggestion.
"Besides, there's no time for that sort of thing, I'd be falling asleep by the time the alarm went off. That's hardly worth the effort."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that", he replied, noting her body beginning to slump. "You know, if you're nervous about dozing in a public space, you're welcome to join me here."
He scanned the room and found the only other chair covered in a mountain of papers and binders, settling on motioning to the far end of the couch.
"I can wake you up when we have to get back to work."
The inspector was turning a lovely shade of beet red. "M-Mister Kougami! Surely you don't expect me to take you up on that offer!"
He held his hands up defensively. "Take it easy. I understand why that could be worse-"
"I-it's not that-"
"I'm just suggesting a place where you're welcome to it. A 15-20 minute nap is proven to refresh and repair memory at a higher success rate than caffeine, and it looks like it couldn't hurt."
"I have heard about that, actually.." She was trailing off, stealing quick glances at the offered seat. What would Ginoza say if he found out? This was hardly work appropriate!
As if reading her mind, he added, "It's rare that anyone comes looking for me during off-time. You can still catch a solid 20 minutes", glancing once more at the collar locked to his wrist.
She stared at the wall, thinking hard. Another yawn escaped her lips, which Kougami arched his eyebrows to, unimpressed.
"Alright." She huffed, trudging and sinking gratefully into the faux leather. Wrapping her arms around herself protectively, she made sure not to look in his direction."But only because I haven't slept well this week." She turned her head to the right, away from the humored stare she could feel burning in her direction. "We'll go over the information tonight."
"Rodger that, Inspector Tsunemori." He let out a chuckle and readjusted to laying his neck over the couch backing.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to will herself to relax and forget about her current whereabouts. Pictures of a shallow underwater world flashed in her mind. The gentle rushing of the water currents in bright teal water. The peaceful brush of fins as schools of fish swam by, the bobbing of a jellyfish. Hang on.
She cracked an eye open at a sudden realization. Kougamis breathing had changed. She peered at him carefully, making sure to not rustle the leather. Sure enough, the taller man was already breathing softly in a doze.
How had he fallen asleep so fast?! She had only taken him out of her sight for a minute!
She peered closer.
Knowing him, he had probably picked up the technique of falling asleep on cue from some banned reading material.
That wouldn't surprise me at all, she thought drowsily, watching his relaxed features with a small smile.
He looked so content.
Catching herself, she blushed and shifted back, closing her eyes once more.
I hope he finds his peace with the world someday...
Something was shaking her shoulder.
"Inspector, time to wake up."
She blinked at him slowly, reeling back at the realization of his hand on her shoulder, which he quickly snapped back at her start.
"Oh! I actually fell asleep!"
He offered a hand. "Do you feel better?"
"Much better, actually." She smiled, taking the offer and pulling herself up.
"Hey, maybe it's because I'm such a relaxing presence."
She let out a bark of hesitant laughter at that, punching him lightly in the side. "Yes, that HAD to be it."
He chuckled, opening the door into the hallway.
"C'mon, I'll buy us some coffee from the vending machine."
He was grinning big, and she found herself wondering as he lead the way.
Was that smile ever a common sight when you were an inspector, Kougami?