az: R&R as usual. Because I itched to write about other people as well. XP. And seeing Ishihara Satomi having good chemistry with Yokocho during the time when they were promoting the series, I had to write something.

Coincidence

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izumi

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"I'll introduce you guys to my new partner, Sakisaka. His achievements during the last few cases were approved and he got brought into the detective group."

"Let me introduce myself for the first time, I'm Sakisaka. Pleased to meet you," he said, bowing towards the trio as Sayama and Ainosuke's friend greeted him. Kato spoke again as the two excused themselves while Ainosuke remained unmoving.

Yumehito tried to control his amusement, looking at the expression his brother had worn on his face. He smiled again at him, as if challenging him to reveal his identity in front of Kato.

No sooner that he thought of it, Ainosuke walked away. Yume smiled again. Wise choice.

Then again... it was not as if he had any intention of killing Kato. Even if Kato was sometimes a bit straightforward, he's a good police officer. Such good officer would be wasted if killed unnecessarily. Besides, he won't remove Ainosuke's strongest ally in that kind of underhanded way. Come to think, perhaps that was the reason why he had arranged for Detective Ohuchi to be transferred into another branch last time...

He was such a softie.

Yumehito glanced towards the concert entrance as he left Kato alone to make the preparations.

Sayama Hitomi.

Sometimes he surprised himself without realising. He had to admit, despite that actual first time when he had met the woman; he never thought that the woman would really end up being close to his brother. He wondered if it was fate or his very good judgement; that he ended up choosing his targets so suitably, in that they ended up being very close to Ainosuke. He did know that Kaito Masaki had never been acquainted with Ainosuke before, as well as that other kid and of course, Sayama Hitomi. In a very amusing way, he had managed to push Ainosuke to being a bit more sociable to others.

It did appear that he was indeed a genius, wasn't it?

xxx

His head ached again. How annoying.

He rarely had any guilty conscience about the things he did nowadays but he seemed to have it always, whenever it concerned Ainosuke. What would their parents think about this? But mum... dad... I'm still watching over Ainosuke like I always did...

He'd made a right decision on coming here and taking Ainosuke and Sayama by himself. At least now, sitting by himself in this car; no one could see how he looked now. He must have—Yumehito glanced at the overhead mirror as he confirmed his thoughts—yes, he looked like a wreck now.

The transceiver started picking some signal as it sounded like Ainosuke had woke up. The woman might prove to be interesting after all, perhaps she could help Ainosuke in ways she wouldn't even realise it yet. It amused him when Sayama started telling Ainosuke about him turning the electricity off. That kid probably won't believe it, he was sure that Ainosuke had seen him counting down before the breakers automatically turned off.

Sayama Hitomi finally came out of the hospital as she started calling Yatabe out to talk about her debt. That girl... she really hadn't changed much, had she?

xxx

Nanbu Department seemed as busy as always, filled with shoppers of every age from every corner coming to see if there's anything being sold here that caught their interest. Enough that they would willingly part with their hard-earned money, just for some short-lived happiness. Not like it concerned him, so he wouldn't bother his head about it.

Although, places as crowded as this would certainly end up being chaotic if something unexpected should happen...

"Ah! Gomen nasai!"

Yumehito barely registered the cry as he was being body slammed by the other and landed on the hard floor. He turned towards the other direction as a young woman hastily gathered her things that had scattered on the floor. He chuckled as he helped the young woman and led her towards a nearby bench.

"I'm really sorry about that..."

"What happened?", he asked as the woman flushed.

"W-well... I kinda caused some trouble upstairs. I caused some of the boxes of toys that had been stacked in this one big mount to fall like this great big avalanche!"

Yume couldn't help laughing at her explanation as he had to ask.

"But why?"

The woman bit her lips before pouting.

"Somehow... I just kinda have this urge. You know, there was this sign telling people not to touch the boxes... but for some reason I just had to. I can't help it, and I was scolded really badly. That was why I've been running... and you know..."

He chuckled again. It was so amusing.

"I'm Yumeto, what's your name?", he asked as he held out his hand.

The woman blinked at him before shaking his hand.

"Ahh... it's Sayama Hitomi. Sorry, for troubling you—"

"Ah, it's all right. But honestly, are you okay? That was kind of a weird fetish you have there."

Hitomi shook her head vigorously at him.

"N-no... this was nothing. What's worse than this was that... I'm a compulsive shopper. Even worse when people tried to tell me to stop or when I'm stressed, despite I've already accumulated quite an amount of debt already—ah! Why did I tell you that?"

Yume laughed again at her before sighing.

"Well, at least compared to you... my problems were even worse."

The woman looked at him curious as he shrugged her off the topic.

"Anyway, are you currently working? It would be troublesome if you're not—"

"Ah! Of course I am! Just that my wage was not that big... you know, Yumeto-san! I'm a school nurse!"

Yumehito looked at her in amazement, as he had sincerely amused by her cheerful antiques.

"Really? Where?"

"Kisaragi Junior High."

Yumehito blinked. Kisaragi... isn't that where...?

Hitomi frowned at him when she noticed his weird reaction.

"What is it? Is there something wrong?"

He shook his head as he smiled to reassure her.

"It's nothing. It's just that my brother studied at Kisaragi as well. What a coincidence!"

"Ah, is it? T-then... I-I hope that meeting me today hadn't worried you or anything. I mean... a school nurse being this weird; you must also be worried about your brother—right? I'm so useless..."

Really, this woman was so delightful.

"Don't worry. I'm sure everything would turn out fine for you. Perhaps one day, you'd find yourself being useful or important to someone. Perhaps someday, you'd meet someone who would appreciate you for being what you are."

Hitomi stared at him as if Yumehito had worn some weird ornaments on his head.

"Really? T-thank you... I guess. For someone I've accidentally met in this mall, you're being awfully nice to me. And ah! I had better not disturb you longer... you must have been waiting for someone or something earlier. I had better excuse myself—", she stuttered before hastily walk away towards the opposite direction.

Yume smiled as he got up from the bench, before turning towards the direction he had been heading to before Hitomi had crashed into him. He hadn't walked so far when he heard his name being called and looked up to see Ainosuke running towards him.

"Niichan! Where have you gone? I've been looking for you!"

He shrugged at his brother as the thought of a very amusing woman came back into his mind...

xxx

The sound of his own ringtone jerked him awake as Yumehito hit his head on the window beside him. He cursed a bit because of the pain before picking up his phone.

[Task complete], was the message as he threw the phone on the passenger seat. Another step in his plan had been completed. Well, since that other step would only be executed much later... at least he can focus on the present action now.

He glanced at the car's digital clock as it show him that it was already thirty minutes before midnight. Somehow, he must have fallen asleep earlier without realizing—and ended up dreaming about that first time when he had accidentally met Sayama Hitomi. He must have been so tired then...

Yumehito glanced up towards the hospital.

Ainosuke should be resting by now. Perhaps he would really pay him a visit before going back to sleep for the night. Yes, he should do that.

A/N: The flashback would probably be set a year before the series/SP started. Technically it was in between the times when Yume had started forming his plans and maybe perform his little case before building it up into the series. I had this idea forming since the part when Hitomi had a selective amnesia kinda... felt like it's not really accidental.