6 Years Later…

What in the world is that annoying noise?

I tried to shut whatever it was out of my head, trying to return to that dream I had been having…such a good dream…what had it been about again?

"UUUUUUUGH. Dammit," I groaned out loud. I opened my eyes and became aware of the blaring alarm clock next to me. In a fit of frustration I picked it up off of my bedside table and ripped it out of the wall, chucking it into the closet across from my bed.

That didn't exactly accomplish much, as I knew I had to get up anyway, but somehow I had to achieve some sort of satisfaction from this brief moment of violence. I tumbled out of my bed and into the shower, then somehow managed to get dressed and eat something before I grabbed my bag and left.

Okay, I thought to myself, I'm a bit early today for once, which means I'll be able to get those reports filed so I can leave early for lunch with Hyo Yeoung, then I'll be able to pick up Ran and Shinichi from the airport later, drop Shinichi off at Ichiro's house, pay a visit to Kazuko and Kazumi…

Needless to say, I was swamped today. Any minor setback could throw off my entire day.

I should have knocked on wood or something. It was inevitable though I supposed. As soon as I stepped confidently out of the elevator, I was in a crime scene. I stopped and surveyed the area.

There was police tape blocking off my apartment building, seemingly from the rest of the world, with officers and the like wandering around reporting and talking seriously amongst themselves. Sure enough, there was the body, already in its bag, waiting to be transported to the crime lab, where I would eventually have to survey it for any clues as to what could have killed him, as well as who.

"Dammit, Heiji," I grumbled. I rubbed a hand over my face, and when I opened my eyes again, there he was with his "deep thinking" face on.

"Don't curse my name, your doorman was the one that was killed, not mine…"

"My doorman? Sakamoto-san was killed? Honestly Heiji, maybe you should be locked in a room or something. Or is it just coincidence that the day after you visit my apartment someone decides to murder my doorman?"

"Hey, I didn't murder anyone! Sheesh…anyway, your little team is already here. I figured I'd let you sleep in a little longer before I called you down here to do the real work."

"Thanks, you're too kind," I mumbled. I started for the body bag. As I opened it, careful not to disturb any possible evidence, I hollered over my shoulder:

"ISHIDA!"

"H-Hai!" a rushed voice came from behind me.

"You have your camera ready?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Then get over here. Take a picture of this." After putting on my gloves, I held up the dead man's wrist, which had a slightly green ring around it. He snapped a few pictures from different angles. "And this." There were peculiar white bumps on his forearm. Another sweep of the body, and I decided that was all I could do from where I was at that moment.

"Alright, load him up. Did you already contact the family?"

"N-no, ma'am, we were told that you were supposed to -"

"Get the number for me, then."

"H-Hai!"

"And quit looking like you're a middle schooler on some sort of field trip. You're making people jumpy." My assistant took a deep breath and responded only slightly more calmly.

"Hai."

"Heiji, is there anything else I should be taking samples of?" Heiji looked up from a group of officers that were having some sort of report, then pointed towards the podium that Sakamoto had always sat at. When I got behind it, I wasn't surprised to find a few novels sitting there, one of which was left splayed open, as if it hadn't been long since it had been left there.

"ISHIDA," I called again.

"HAI!"

"Get an evidence bag for me, would you? Actually, grab a few."

"HAI." I snooped around the little desk area, found a powdery substance of sorts that I later took a sample of, and when Ishida brought what I had asked for, I picked up the book carefully.

The cover was wrinkly and bent from overuse. It was a paperback book, and now that I thought about it, had been one of Sakamoto's favorites. He read this book when he was between new ones that he wanted to read, and before I dropped it into the evidence bag, I had a flashback of him smiling buoyantly with a warm greeting, the book still open in his hand. "Good evening, Kokawa-sama. How are you?"

Then I realized I knew absolutely nothing about this guy. He could have a wife, kids, a family for all I knew…why would anyone want to kill him?

I shook my head before handing the bag over to Ishida, who bowed before rushing it to whatever car would transport it to my office.

I often thought that same phrase – why would anyone want to kill so-and-so – but I was starting to learn that it was all part of the job. My therapist, who I saw only once a month now, was against me going into this field of work, but I assured her that it would be the best way for me to deal with everything. And I could - deal with everything, I mean. Though I had those stray thoughts that went out to whatever family had just lost a member, I was able to somewhat callously push those emotions aside as I worked to aid in the fight for justice. People working in my department called me heartless sometimes, and most of them feared me to some degree, but I didn't mind. I secretly enjoyed the power.

"Call me with the results," Heiji interrupted my train of thought.

"Right. Oh wait! Uh, you may have to stop by or get a call from someone else about them though…I have things to take care of today." He looked up at the ceiling, as if asking 'why me?'

"God, fine. I'll try to get everything done as fast as possible, but there are no promises." He smiled egotistically.

"I'll probably have the case solved by the time you get to your office anyway."

"Oh shut up." I rolled my eyes before heading out the door and under the police tapes.

Come on, come on, I thought. My foot was tapping and I was fidgeting, suddenly nervous. I glanced at my watch; I had been waiting for half an hour.

"Miss, would you like some more water?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure." I pushed my glass to the edge of the table, and the waitress filled it generously before smiling, bowing, then moving on to the next table.

To be completely honest, I had been worried about Hyo Yeoung. Ever since his aunt had died, he just wasn't the same. We saw each other a few times later that year, but then he completely disappeared. The last conversation I had with him face-to-face had been about his argument with his uncle. It had apparently been a huge blowout that led to the threat of being disowned by the only parental figure he had left.

Ichiro wasn't exactly happy that I was meeting up with him today…but hell, it had been years since I had even talked to him, and he randomly calls to schedule a lunch saying he has something important to tell me? What was I supposed to do?

I checked my watch again. Only two minutes had passed.

"Sorry I'm late!" I looked up to see him hurrying towards my table, being escorted by the same waitress that had refilled my water glass. She offered him a drink, then offered to take our orders as well, but we passed.

"Wow…Hyo Yeoung-oppa, you look so different." And indeed he did. He had grown into a rather mature…well, man. It still seemed weird to me to be describing people my age in that way. But on the other hand, he also had a childlike look in his eyes, something that suggested freedom…something was definitely making him jumpy and excited, but I wasn't sure how to bring it up.

"And you…" He took a deep breath, then smiled kindly. "Is it rude to say that you look the same as always? Before you answer that, you should know that you've always been stunningly beautiful." I shook my head.

"And you're still absurd…" I looked at my menu, but then looked up and smiled at him.

"Which uh…brings me to my next point." He was still smiling, but was suddenly uneasy.

"Mm, what was so important that you had to tell me?"

"You know how I was going to medical school in Tokyo?"

"…I didn't know it was medical school, but sure, now I do."

"Well anyway, I quit." I almost choked on my water.

"You what?"

"I dropped out. I was supposed to graduate this year, since I took a year off before I actually started college, but I decided I didn't want it anymore. This had been my aunt's dream, not mine." He said this so easily that I wasn't sure how to respond.

"So…what are you going to do then?" He pulled a book satchel out from behind him and retrieved a large, manila colored pad from it, placing it face down in front of me. I raised my eyebrows before picking it up.

"What is this?"

"Lift the cover." I did, and my breath escaped me.

There was a beautiful landscape drawing that resembled some sort of river during a sunset. The colors, so vibrant and glorious, blended together in such a way that it was impossible to define any lines, though there were definitely shapes of trees and other nature-esque things. There was a heron in the sky that stood out from everything else, and it appeared to be flying towards whoever was observing this scene.

"Hyo Yeoung-ah…this is amazing…"

"My favorite ones are my portraits." I looked up at him, incredulous, then flipped the page over and found underneath it a colorless sketch of a very, very beautiful girl. Her head was tilted slightly, and she appeared to be sitting on an invisible chair. Her eyes I noticed, were the only colored aspects of the page; a bright, eccentric blue.

"Oh my God…is this…?"

"That's you." He said it so effortlessly that I had to think before I responded.

"Me? But this is -"

"How I see you. I draw things as I see them. Don't we all?" I took a steadying breath and leaned back, flipping through other portraits and sketches that were equally as dazzling.

"So you want to be an artist."

"I've always wanted to be one…but my aunt always said I wouldn't get anywhere that way. I decided that she would want me to be happy, right? So I quit medical school." He smiled peacefully.

"…Well alright then. That's…wow. That's great for you."

"You think?"

"Well, sure, I'm all for the individualistic parts of life, but aren't you worried about what your uncle will think?" His expression darkened and he looked away.

"My uncle is back in Korea, as far as I know. I haven't spoken to him in years."

"Oh…I'm sorry. But hey. I think you could be successful. This stuff is absolutely miraculous…" I trailed off, flipping back to the portrait of me. "I draw things as I see them. Don't we all?"

"You can keep that one, if you want."

"Oh, no. I really shouldn't."

"No, go ahead. Here." He took the tablet from me and ripped it out cleanly, handing it over. I took it cautiously.

"Are you sure?"

"No doubt! Hey, I'm really sorry about this but I have to go, so I'll get together with you soon, ah? Tell your mother I said hello." He smiled as he got up to leave, replacing the tablet back into his satchel.

"O-Oh. Okay. I'll walk you out."

"Alright." We walked out to the street together, where we were to part ways.

"I live in one of those apartment buildings down…there." He pointed in a general direction, which caused me to laugh.

"Well that's great to know. I'll be sure to look down there." He smiled gratefully.

"Annyeoung, Kokone-ah."

"Annyeoung." I waved as I watched him blend into the crowd before I turned to start towards the hospital.

I never really liked going through the hospital doors, even though I was walking myself through them. It all seemed so distant and morbid to me now. Had I really had a near death experience here once? I'd had one in Tokyo more recently than the one I'd had here, but then again, the one I went through here was a tad bit more depressing…

However, I did love the smell…I couldn't help it. I inhaled deeply as I approached the front desk.

"Good afternoon, how may I help you?" The receptionist asked me without looking up from her computer.

"Er – I know this is kind of against the rules, but -"

"No, I cannot give you medicine that wasn't prescribed for you." This caught me off guard. She said it as if it were normal for some random person to waltz in and ask for drugs.

"Wh-what? No, no, I don't want medicine, I need to -"

"Medicine and drugs can be the same depending on how they're used."

"…That's great. Now, can I please ask you where I might find Dr. Ogawa Ichiro?"

"None of the doctors can give you medicine without a direct cause. Are you sick?"

"Oh. My God, will you stop assuming I'm some kind of pot-smoker and just tell me where he is?" She looked up at me with this comment, which I said sort of harshly, but Jesus, how else was I ever going to get my point across?

"Ma'am, I'd appreciate it if you would stay calm."

"I'm perfectly fine! You're the one calling me a drug addict over here!"

"Kokone!"

"What!" I snapped, turning towards the direction of which my name was called. Then I realized it was Ichiro. "Oh. Hey, I was looking for you." He jogged over to me and pulled me away from the receptionist's desk. She eyed me carefully.

"Your receptionists are absolutely ridiculous here," I commented sourly. She gave me the stink eye, to which I returned my death glare.

That seemed to work pretty well.

"Stop," Ichiro tried not to laugh. "She's new here, and has already dealt with someone begging for free medicine more than once." I raised my eyebrows.

"Well isn't that interesting."

"I guess. So anyway, what're you doing here? I only have about 10 more minutes left of my lunch before I have to get back to interning." He said the word with disgust, as if it had some sort of diseases associated with it, which is actually quite possible given the environment.

"Oh please, you know you love it." He did, he couldn't hide it. This was what he had been born to do; to help people. "But I was wondering if you knew the time I was supposed to pick up Ran and Kudo at the airport?"

"I swear I've told you a million times…Pick them up in about 3 hours."

"Hey, I had a lot to do today alright? My doorman was murdered by some jealous ex-apartment dweller this morning while I was asleep. And that lunch with Hyo Yeoung? Oh man, talk about weird. Look at this." I lifted up my portrait, and Ichiro took it and held it up to the light like an x-ray film.

"…Wow. This is…this is you."

"You really think so? Am I the only one that doesn't see it?"

"You've never been one to see yourself for the amazing person that you are," he mumbled as he continued to observe the fine detail of my face. I blushed for a second, but quickly recovered.

"Shut up." He handed the portrait back to me, grinning stupidly.

"I should get back to work now. My resident is going to kill me if I don't."

"Alright, I guess I'll go…clean. Or something."

"Mhm, whatever you say." He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to venture back into the depths of the hospital. "Don't forget to pick them up!" I rolled my eyes, but waved happily before I took my leave.