It never failed to surprise people every time, most of whom would look up once, then do a short double-take in his direction before getting back to work. Those who have known the youthful officer for a shorter time would stare a lot longer than they should, until Vice-Chief Hijikata started rapping his knuckles on the table to get them back to work. The matter would then be quickly dropped, and the day would go on as usual.
That morning, however, things went quite differently from usual.
"You look sooooo cool, Okita-san!" The new kid, Tetsunosuke, was already gushing over Souji's new look faster than the latter could say "Good morning" to everyone. The outburst promptly drew the attention of everyone in the station, with most of the the females (and some of the males) immediately gathering around the punch clock by the entrance to get a closer look.
"Er, hi, everyone..." Souji managed a weak, embarrassed laugh as his greeting was drowned by feminine squeals and glomping arms and big, strong hands ruffling his short locks into what it had looked like when he'd gotten out of bed that morning. (After all the time he'd spent in front of the mirror fixing his hair!) He turned back to the punch clock and inserted his time card, the faint smell of Starbucks' Americano momentarily catching his attention, then -
"What the hell is going on?" Hijikata's looming figure stood beside the file cabinet, an almost-crushed tall paper cup in his hand and an angry glint in his eye. At once, everybody quieted down, making more pronounced the delayed sound effect of a camera snap from a short distance away.
"Tch, photobomb," Officer Harada muttered under his breath as he quickly placed his smartphone in his back pocket, while Nagakura and Toudou softly snickered beside him. A second glare from Hijikata, however, reduced the trio in the corner to silence, as well. The Vice-Chief then cast a sweeping glance over all the members standing by the doorway, taking a sip of his coffee before finally dismissing the small crowd.
"Back to work, now," Hijikata tersely ordered as he walked away. As the group dispersed, Souji smoothed his hair over and followed his direct superior further inside the building.
"Good morning, Hijikata-san," he cheerfully greeted, taking half a skip farther to match the tall man's longer strides as they rounded into the corner at the end of the hallway. Souji casually observed Hijikata's styled hair bobbing ever so slightly as they ascended the stairs.
"You shouldn't be causing an uproar this early in the morning," Hijikata admonished without looking back, as soon as they were out of earshot. "Every single year, really."
"You already knew it was going to happen," Souji playfully countered as they reached the second floor, the lilting singsong tone he always uses to bait the Vice-Chief coloring his voice. He takes another long stride and moved closer to walk beside Hijikata. "You're losing your touch, aren't you?"
The other man continued walking ahead without giving so much as a response. Souji expected as much, but frankly, it was still quite disappointing, all things considered. A small smile played on his lips. "You're a spoilsport, you know that?"
Hijikata returned the gesture with a smirk of his own.