"Lieutenant Ito," Faitsu spoke, "what's all this?"
The petition had been drafted Friday morning and had gotten about fifteen signed agreements- it wouldn't even be possible for her to turn to court.
The lieutenant seemed busy digging into his udon bowl.
"Lieutenant Ito," she said, louder, "Isn't it too early for something like this?" The other barely spoke- "I know I've done wrong, but if you gave me another chance- and it's not like I meant to, anyway- I'll work overtime, go undercover, whatever you want, I'll even ask the press to-"
The lieutenant turned away. "Did you file the July nineteenth case report?" He said, to officer Tatsuya.
"Lieutenant Ito-"
"Oh, you scared me," he said, putting his hands over his chest when the other refused to move from his personal space.
He tried to look at Faitsu again, a crease forming between his eyebrows, "Trust me, it isn't like there's something I can do. The petition, you know, they've all signed- your colleagues, the underlings, even the cleaning staff-"
"The cleaning staff?-" Faitsu began.
The lieutenant quickly returned to his chair, "How can you expect me to back you up? 'Officer Nagashima- the freeloader', they say, the entire department's set against you! And if they hear now that you're coming to me for help, well-"
"But can't you do something about it?"
"Now you're expecting me to do something! Really! Now, officer," he quickly let down the blinds, and spoke slower, "if you'd been so repentant of it all you really wouldn't have done these things, am I right?"
"I understand where you're coming from," she said, looking up at him, "I really do, and I know you have to care about your image- but, it isn't like I did something terrible!" She went on counting with her fingers, "It isn't like I accepted a bribe- like officer Yui, or tampered with the case files, like Mr. Kanata," the lieutenant's face grew even more tired, "It isn't like I'd committed theft, or murder, or kidnapped someone, or-"
"You went off all on your own and arrested the minister of affairs," he answered, "isn't that alone a crime against your country? So what if he'd taken some money? I'd ask you to find someone who didn't, for that matter- and you stained our names as well, and who asked you to investigate the cases of the seniors?"
"I was just trying to-"
"-and you took all the credit," the lieutenant shook his head, "officer," he said, "Never in my life have I seen a junior snatch a case from someone older just because they were 'interested'. Frankly, I can understand Me. Kanata's pain, it's wouldn't have been easy for him to let down a colleague, but-" he looked at Faitsu, all empathetic, "you do what has to be done."
"You do what has to be done." Wasn't this the first thing Lt. Kim had said to her when she came into the department? Faitsu turned all quiet.
"Lieutenant," she began, "can I see it?"
"See what?"
She pursed her lips.
"Oh," he said, instead, refusing to look at the all-important piece of paper, "officer, I just think it's about time you started packing up..."
H
The summer sun crackled with heat, and Faitsu was spending the rest of her shift in her car.
"Hey, mom," she said, "What do you mean I sound sick? Well, you should look outside, it's the heat- I'm dying from the heat. What? Of course I remember," she opened her tea flask, "They're having lunch with me right now, lettuce wrap? Of course, I'll but it on the way. Mom, I'll share, don't worry- hang on, Tatsuya wants to say something, he keeps bringing it up-" she looked outside the window, and pretended to call out to someone, "oh, yes, he loved it. Your sushi is always the best."
She did a high-pitched laugh, "Yes, mom, senior keeps calling me- I have to go, yes, love you, bye."
The static faded away. She was just about to start lunch when she pulled herself together again, and began muttering to herself.
"Faitsu Nagashima, what is it with you? You lost your first job and your first friends, you look so pathetic- that's right, and now you're sitting in a car to eat lunch. If I were you I'd take a hint," she paused, before opening up her bento box, "you crazy woman, you've really got the best of luck haven't you?-"
E
"You want to request a transfer?"
"Yes," because Faitsu had gone ahead and pulled herself up the previous day, "I was wondering if I'd need to talk to HR-"
"Which department would you prefer?" The lady asked.
"Any one will do," she leaned against the counter, "but then again, I don't want to go back to foreign affairs-"
She began typing away on her counter, only stopping when- "Faitsu Nagashima, is that your name?"
"Well-"
"I'm afraid we'll have some trouble, finding a team for you, in fact," she looked away from the computer, "I don't think the Deputy will take it too kindly if we arrange this for a suspended officer-"
"Suspended?"
"For three months," the lady said, "anyways, I hope you have a good day-" she stopped to pick up her phone, which had rang loudly.
"Deputy? Has anyone? Of course, of course. I'll see right to it that it's done." She turned to Faitsu again, "I think you should fill up this form," she said, more softly, "you might be expecting a call very soon."
Faitsu couldn't help but bow ninety degrees. "Really?" She said, "Thank you, thank you!"
"You're telling me I have to deal with a newbie for another three weeks, is that it?"
Rakutsu was mad, to say the least. But 'mad' would be putting it too far, he was- professionally frustrated. The last one had barely managed a week.
"You do realise that it's not as good an idea as it seems?"
"It isn't?" Deputy Sato inquired, a smile on his face, "But we've really got no other choice, we can't lose her." He sat on the other's desk, "We have to throw the egg against the wall, so to speak."
"But why?"
Deputy Sato raised his eyebrows.
"You just said that she was fired from her own team," Rakutsu began, "doesn't seem too hard of a decision to let her go-"
"-she's a good officer."
"-good officers don't go making trouble for their colleagues."
Deputy Sato's eyebrows went up further. Rakutsu realised he shouldn't have said that.
"You're right," Nim said, "-and, by the way, it was just a petition."
"It's the same thing," said Rakutsu.
"It isn't the same if you think about it. This woman is- to say the least- hard-working, but she lacks common sense."
"She lacks common sense?"
"Common sense," Deputy Sato clicked his fingers, "and you're going to be teaching it to her."
"And what if she ends up giving it up?"
"What?"
"Our team's a lot more competitive than the rest," he says, "what if she finds the tasks she's given too hard to deal with? And- let's just say she gives up, by herself?"
"Under your care," Deputy Sato said, quite pleasantly, "I'm sure she'll fare well."
Rakutsu wondered if the other was ignorant to the way he ran about this place.
"We'll see about that," he settled for saying.
A
"The defendant first called the paramedics on April tenth- that was four days ago- and asked for treatment, the paramedics found her lying on the floor, with several bodily injuries-" the screen lit up to show a medical report, "-broken teeth, the works- but it wasn't the first time it had happened-" another display appeared, this time it showed a woman, with decayed, bloody teeth, staring into the room with ease, "as you can see, this is Miss Kim Je-yeon, twenty-eight years old and a housewife, she was subject to domestic abuse for about seven years, and in the course of the next three days she would go on to call the paramedics about eighteen times. They never found anything. Just yesterday, their neighbour broke into the house and called nine-one-one. Miss Je-yeon was nowhere to be found, and- as you all know- her husband was found dead from cranial injuries."
"Now there hasn't been many developments," Rakutsu continued, pointing to the display with the remote, "but the luminol reaction revealed a lot of blood stains- spatters on the walls, etc. A linear pattern, meaning a sharp instrument. But the thing to realise here is that these blood spatters are on the upper wall, and the victim claims to have stabbed him while she was down- the two don't exactly go together."
"-and why would she go to the lengths of cleaning those up," Ruri said, holding up her hand, "it feels like a lot of work."
"That's so awkward." Burrakku laid back on his chair, "And you just assumed she was the one who killed him. Couldn't there have been a third party?"
"And you're assuming there was a third party-"
"What did the dashcam show?" Leo asked, more timidly.
"Not what we'd expect- the cam had bad resolution and recorded from just narrow angles-" Rakutsu folded his arms, "-and the public are beginning to make this a feminist issue, I'm starting to think we shouldn't have taken this case."
"It's definitely a weird situation," Burraku muttered, "and if we wrongly convict the woman we might even have a lawsuit on our hands."
"We have to steer clear of the press, besides, we don't even know if the-"
"-it does look like she's left-handed."
The muttering stopped. The trio looked curiously at the female intruder, who could only bow in answer.
"Oh," Rakutsu muttered, turning off the computer, "I was supposed to tell you- this is Faitsu Nagashima, she'll be joining us today based on Deputy's instructions."
"Hello, it's nice to meet you," she bowed again, "I hope you'll take good care of me."
"Talk about a surprise," replied Burrakku, turning around, "you look very familiar, I think I've seen you in the papers-"
"Aren't you that officer from international affairs, team three?-" Leo piped up, "I saw her in the news-"
"Well-" she began, in a curious tone.
Their superintendent gave her a glance. Faitsu was almost convinced that he was going to save her from this disaster, that is, before he opened his mouth.
"That's right," he said, "she had trouble getting along with her colleagues, they butted heads often, so they signed a petition for her to get out."
Faitsu meekly covered her mouth.
"Well," she said, clutching her purse, "I wouldn't exactly call it 'butting heads', we just had- a few differing opinions-"
"You really won't have to worry about any of that here," the superintendent said, almost nonchalantly, "we all have pretty different opinions, in fact, it's hard for us to agree about anything at all- at first glance you'd think we all hated each other."
The men in the chairs coughed, but the superintendent went on, "I heard you had trouble following orders- well, that's great, actually. Most of us hate our superiors."
Is he really the superintendent, thought Faitsu, he doesn't seem scary at all.
"Rakutsu, what are you talking about?" The tall man in the jacket interrupted loudly, "Ah, I guess the pressure's finally getting to him-" he smiled urgently at Faitsu, "it's tough being a team captain, what were you saying, again?"
"Oh," she said, "nothing, really-"
"Something about hands-"
"I meant, the bloodspatters," she pointed at the screen, awkwardly, "it looks like the knife was thrown at an angle."
Ruri nodded.
"-and Superintendent had said that she had called the police multiple times," Faitsu mumbled, "if you look at the picture you can see that the receiver's placed on the right hand side- of the telephone- for convenience." She stopped.
Rakutsu slid his hands into his pockets, "That does narrow it down a bit." He said, "The victim was stabbed forcefully from the front, so we could expect her left hand to have a bruise."
"I did see something plastered over her thumb," Ruri replied, looking at all of them closely, "when we went in to get the statement- Miss Je-yeon said that she'd hurt her hand cutting vegetables."
Burrakku whistled.
"The case just came in this morning," he said, "Miss Faitsu! If this is true, you were this close to breaking the record-"
"Oh," she said, smiling, "what's the record?"
"Fifteen minutes," Ruri began, "for solving a case- that's Detective Burakku, sixty for me, and I think Superintendent holds the department record."
Faitsu was silent. She had no intention of knowing the department record.
"At any rate," their superintendent said, "I hope you don't get too comfortable. It's not like Faitsu's already been accepted."
The smile slid off her face.
R
"Did you hear about her transfer?"
Tatsuya stopped himself. They were in the canteen, and one of their seniors had offered to buy coffee.
"Isn't she a total joke?" Senior Kanata said, "She damages our reputation, acts like she owns the world, and now she's gotten herself into the Violent Crimes department."
"She won't last a day," the other senior said, slurping her noodles, "team one-oh-three is notorious for quickly firing off their employees, last time I heard someone got laid off for wearing their hair down-"
"Their team leader is a friend of mine," Mr. Kanata added, "It's even said that he dislikes women. I feel pity for the poor girl, not being able to pay rent, having to take care of her mother and everything-"
"-but you do admit it was daft of her to fancy getting into an elite department-"
An elite department, Tatsuya thought, no way.
"I have a feeling that the superintendent's going to tear her throat down," Mr. Kanata began, "she's probably going to come out of that department crying, hell, she might actually quit for-"
He stopped to bow, for one of their superiors had come along to the canteen.
T
"We just received news- guys, we've got to move quickly."
Leo had barely managed to slurp the last of his udon, "It's still lunchtime."
"Ruri, go to reception and ask if they've got anyone named Hirano Yuudai under the record. Burrakku-" Rakutsu paused, the latter was still busy with his lunch, "-are we really going to do it like this? Fine. Leo, check the CCTV footage of red-light districts when you're done, especially the ones around Shinden bridge. I'm going to that casino-" he said, wrapping up in his jacket, "before we lose track of them again. Anyone else wanna come by?"
"We've barely finished lunch, and, Rakutsu," Ruri smiled nervously, "It's not like we could catch up. They've probably already gone off."
"Not all of us are as active as you," Leo agreed.
"I really shouldn't have expected anything else," he said, "where's the new guy?"
"-superintendent?"
Faitsu had appeared, and looked slightly taken aback.
"-you can pack up now."
"-Pack up?" She said, going white, a tray in her hands, "Already? I mean, superintendent, it's barely been a day-"
"Doesn't that just mean we have to move along faster?"
"Oh," she said, dejectedly, "I'll- I'll see how long it takes-"
"-officer Faitsu."
"Yes?"
"The door's this way," Rakutsu began, wondering if the other was really this clueless.
"Oh," she said, a bit more hotly, "you don't have to show me the way, I was just putting away my lunch-"
"You could just have something to eat along the way, then. We don't want an officer starving, do we?"
Faitsu looked behind her, at her colleagues. One of them seemed to be smiling.
"I guess," she replied, tentatively.
A
The day was crackling hot, and Faitsu was going to spend the rest of the shift in the car, except this time she wasn't alone- her superintendent was in the driving seat and they were bound to chase down some drug-runners to Shinden bridge.
"Superintendent," Faitsu began, "aren't the others going to come along?"
"We'll wait for them when we get there," he said, "we've actually kept track of these drug cartels for a long time- I'm assuming you've read about it in the papers?"
"Well, actually- I haven't."
"You didn't even bother to check, just in case?" Faitsu remained silent, Rakutsu scoffed, "Then why bother coming along in the first place."
"I came along, because," she looked out of the window. "-never mind. It was all a misunderstanding. I shouldn't have come."
"What are you even talking about?"
He should've let me have the day off if he was gonna fire me, Faitsu thought.
"Nothing," she said, "superintendent, you should just keep your eyes on the road."
"I was," he said, "then I learned that you hadn't an inkling of information about the case."
"About what?" Faitsu said, she was becoming weary, "We're just going to catch up to some drug dealers, what would I even do with all this information. It's not like I'm gonna marry him."
"Yuudai," Rakutsu stated, "isn't just a drug runner. He has a couple of businesses on the side."
"So what if he does?" She challenged, "We aren't dealing with any of that. It's just one day of watching, innit?"
Rakutsu breathed more slowly, which should've been a warning sign, except Faitsu was a bit too busy with her phone.
"Yes, mom," she said, "oh no, I haven't eaten yet, why?" She served the superintendent a pouty look, "Oh, no reason."
Rakutsu checked the looking glass. "Wait," he said, "officer, it'd be great if you could put your phone away by now."
"What," she gasped, "superintendent, are you trying infringe to on my freedom of speech? That goes firmly against article nine-twelve-"
"- Oh, no, that's not it-"
The car suddenly took a sweeping turn. "Miss Faitsu," he said, "Look behind you, is the car behind us a Mercedes Benz?"
"And it's got tinted windows," she affirmed, "but why?"
"That's enough now, you don't have to look back anymore."
Faitsu actually bothered to put her seatbelt on, "Is that the Yuudai guy?"
"No, not at all."
Another curve. The wheels screeched and crashed.
"Then who is it?"
"It seems stupid to think about it," he said, turning the wheel, "but civilians usually aren't allowed to drive in cars with tinted windows."
"You mean-"
"They're headed for the casino." He turned on the speakerphone, "Leo," he said, "It's no good, now. You guys should head back."
Faitsu turned to him with surprising quickness.
"We don't want them catching us in our tracks."
"Wait," she said, "Why are we going back?"
"The car that you just saw probably belongs to someone of reputation," Rakutsu said, turning the car back into an alley, "we don't want to be seen like this." The car stopped, "How far are you guys?"
Faitsu turned on her speakerphone.
"Dude," Burrakku said, "we can see the car from the sidelines. They're headed to the casino. Do you want me to take pictures?"
"Do what you can manage, yeah."
"Officer Leo," she said, looking into the rear view- which showed the back of a rundown store a few feet away and a tall man holding a jacket, "do you know who the guy is? The one who's come out of the Mercedes?"
"Yeah, hold up," came the voice from the speaker, "I can see him. It's unbelievable. It's Yoshimura, and he's hunched over by a group of bodyguards."
"Yoshimura Daisuke?" She whispered, "The minister of affairs?"
"Yup. That's the one."
She looked at Rakutsu, who'd already started putting back his sealtbelt.
"We can leave now," he was whispering, "Ruri, I think you should take more snapshots of Harano- the ratty looking one."
"Yes, sir."
Faitsu wiped the sweat from her brow.
"Superintendent," she said, "are we going back because of that guy?"
"We don't have much of a choice," he said, quite calmly, "That guy's been onto us ever since your department put up those charges against him, no offense. I wonder if we could file a police report-"
"Superintendent!" She interrupted, her eyes were wide, "You know who that guy is, don't you?"
"Of course I do," he said, putting his gun back into its holster, "he's trying to feed money into the higher-ups' pockets, and that's why we have to be careful."
"Superintendent," She repeated, "That guy's a known paedophile."
"-and he won't let us move a step if he found out we were here."
"-who cares about that, honestly!" She held her face up to his, and it was in shadow, "I don't know if you know this- but he was taken up to court a few years ago for raping three children. He bought the witnesses, then, but now, now he's heading down to a rundown casino with a drug runner who has a few businesses on the side- superintendent, I think you can easily guess what's happening in there -"
"I realise what you mean," he said, after a pause, "but Faitsu, it isn't as simple all that. That requires a lot more planning. It would be foolish to just barge in-"
"Foolish!" She asked, "Not selfish?"
"I'm going to do what I can," he said, "trust me, I'm trying to do my job, and we've got to watch out for our colleagues. We're outnumbered, we've got to do what has to be done."
Faitsu fell back into her car seat.
"Let me go," she said, "I'm still not a part of your team. I think you can afford to let me go there and bust the shit out of-."
Rakutsu had locked the doors. "You won't do any such thing," he said, "and it'll put the others at risk."
Faitsu gave up struggling to get out of the car.
"By others," she began, "you mean yourself, right?
N
The day had been exhausting, and Faitsu was trying her best to get a drink out of the unrelenting vending machine.
"Give it up, will you?" She said, pushing the button repeatedly, "honestly."
The canned coffee fell out, orange in the light, and someone knelt down to pick it up for her.
"Here you go," Rakutsu said, holding it out as he spoke, "it isn't good to be too impatient. You might break the thing."
Faitsu brushed his arm away. "That's alright of you," she said, "but I'm not sure I need one anymore."
She was about to turn away.
"We have a team meeting on the morrow," he said, "we're trying to get a hold on Choi."
"Seems a bit unnecessary," she said, "you're mentioning him? I thought it wasn't allowed-"
"Officer-"
"I was wondering if I could get a transfer," she said, "but, you know, I always keep coming back to the same kind of place."
"What do you even mean by that?
"You know," she began, pushing another button, "I was kicked out after trying to push charges on Choi, I thought I'd get into a department like this, and it wouldn't happen- but people will always want to look out for themselves-"
"-Is that why you think we did what we did?"
She looked at him, and her look was now scathing, "What else was I supposed to think?"
"You were supposed to think about your colleagues," he answered, voice low, "the people you were working with."
"That guy was the reason I got kicked out of my department, superintendent." She said, "and I never wished to come here to work with you-"
"Then you should've thought twice before stepping into this department," he lowered his voice, "you implied we were being selfish- do you really think that we aren't trying our best to catch him?- we have done this thing for years, and we know that we're going to have to think carefully before making a move." He paused, "But I wouldn't expect you to know all of that- you'd rather throw people under the bus than work along with them."
"How could you say something like-"
"You should really think about what you did today-" he said, in a voice oddly cold and familiar, "I didn't really want to seem cruel, but it's clear that you've got a lot to learn."
Faitsu only clenched her fist and gazed with steely eyes at her superior.
"I might have a lot to learn," she said, voice hoarse, "but it's clear I won't be learning any of those things here."
"You don't have to force yourself," he said, "I'd suggest walking away now before it gets worse."
"Fine," she said, grabbing her can, "I'd love to!"
D
"That son of a bitch- oh, god," she stacked her files one over the other, "why give someone night duty if you're going to fire them anyway? He must really think the world of himself- ah! He makes my blood boil."
She looked at the clock as she was packing up, and was surprised to hear the telephone ring.
"Who'd call at this time of day?"
She cleared her throat, before picking up the call.
"Hello?"
Faitsu froze. It was the voice of a child.
"Hello?" It said, "Mister? Is anyone there?"
"Of course," she said, softly, "this is a police station. Is there anything you need?"
"Can you please call my mom?"
"Your mom?" She said, "Of course. Are you lost? Do you have her phone number?"
"No."
"No?- What's your name, sweetie?"
"Please," the voice began, trembling, "can you please call my mom? I want to talk to her, please."
"I'm calling her right now," she lied, "but, don't you think she'll need to know where you are?"
"I don't know- it's really really dark. I can't see much."
"Oh," she said, "you don't have to worry about that, then. Do you remember how you got here?"
"Miss, can you please hurry up? I don't want to be rude, but can you please-" the call cut off.
Faitsu jumped back, surprised. She rang up the telephone again, and was met with silence. She rang a few more times.
Nothing. Faitsu took a deep breath, before dialling up another number.
"Hello?" She said, "Superintendent, I didn't want to bother you at this time, but-"
"Faitsu? Is that you?"
"Yes, yes, I was calling you about this- this little girl phoned our department. She doesn't know where she is, her parents' number, or anything like that. I was wondering what I could do-"
"-Did you trace the call?"
"Trace, trace, oh, yes, I can do that."
"-officer, try to keep calm."
"Yes, I am," she paused, after typing in the number on a computer, "I found it." She paused, "Superintendent, you won't believe this."
"Yes?"
"The girl," she said, "she called a few kilometres from Shinden bridge. Near that casino."
There was a thud. "Wait for me," the superintendent said, "don't try going there alone. They could be setting us up."
"Oh, yes," she said, "please hurry up, I'll see what I can do."
The static receded. Faitsu quickly climbed up the chair and ran outside to the parking lot.
M
From the front the casino looked nothing more than a rundown garage.
The air was cold and her muscles felt stiff as she stalked up to the basement.
Faitsu swung one of the doors open with her leg and waited, before walking forwards again.
The little girl had been right. It was nearly impossible to see properly in that light, save for a staircase which had been lit with neon signs and shone like a beacon in the dark ocean of the basement.
As she approached the staircase the officer was beginning to feel light headed, the view swam and it was hard to escape the feeling that something had gone a little wrong, as the lights melted into one another and the wooden stairs were stripped off their colour, Faitsu thought she heard the voice of a siren.
I
"Is that how you found her?"
The street was lit with police cars and yellow cross tapings.
"She was bleeding all over," the old man said, "her parents cried a bit and came over to take her to the hospital, but I say it's no use. Vaginal penetration. It must've been six or so men all at once. When you think about things like that-" he moved his head a little and spat on the street, "-who'd do a little girl like that, it sorta makes you lose faith in humanity."
Faitsu was trying to survey the surroundings with a hawk-like eye, arms folded and bunched up in her jacket.
The old police officer came up to her, a bit apologetic, "You shouldn't go into places like that all by yourself, alright? Imagine what would've happened if we came in a bit later-"
"She's with us," Rakutsu answered, holding a shock blanket, "she just hasn't got a badge yet. We got the call at eleven-thirty."
"Eleven-thirty? Figures."
"Here," he said, wrapping the blanket around her, much to her surprise, "no reason standing out here in the cold."
"Thanks, superintendent." She went back to watching her surroundings with polite bewilderment.
Rakutsu watched her for a while. Then he said, "I hope you don't think it's your fault."
"What?" She said, "Oh, no, not at all. In fact," she wrapped the jacket closer around her, "I was just thinking about the fucking filth that did it. I'd love to have my hands around those bastards, they aren't going anywhere, and I'd knife them until I fucking-"
"-officer-"
"Fuck them in the fucking ass," she cried out, "bastards, I'd like them to fucking drop the soap in jail and then they would know-"
"It's natural to feel emotional at these things," he began, "but don't stand out in the cold while you're doing it. You should go home and get some rest-"
"Rest!" She said, "Oh, no, can't you see I'm having an adventure today? The thing is," she paused, "I left my department thinking life would just get boring from now on- but no, it always manages to excite me! Who would've thought! I'm just- I'm having such a great time right now." She trailed off, and her lips pursed now into a thin line. "See?" She said, "I'm not even cold. You don't have to worry about me."
At this point a couple of the passers by and policemen had been watching them, and began to serve her looks.
"There are still some people who care more about themselves than the poor child," one of them whispered.
"We should get back in the car," said Rakutsu, and he was frowning.
N
"Superintendent," she said, when she'd gotten into the car, "I'm sorry. I dragged you there, and because of me we got badmouthed by some of the elders," she shook her head, "I've really got to stop talking out loud like that."
"It wasn't your fault," he said briskly, "some people can't help judging others if they can help it- but really, it was a tough day for a beginner, and they wouldn't have said those things if they'd known- what you'd gone through."
"-but I could've done better," she said.
"-you could've done better," he admitted, "and yet that doesn't change the fact that you did your best."
Faitsu remained quite, though she bit her lips and looked outside- at the street.
"You were right," she said eventually, smiling, "I do have a lot left to learn-"
D