Chapter One: Kanji

Things have been kind of down at Nanako's house since Senpai left. Dojima's seemed like he's in a worse mood than usual, and poor Nanako is often stuck home alone all day on Sundays.

When I arrive, the neighborhood is awfully quiet. I don't even see the dog that's normally outside. I ring the doorbell and wait, feeling a little nervous cause I didn't call first—Don't actually have their number. I only heard about Nanako from the other senpai.

"Who the hell is it?" Dojima calls out in aggravation, gruffly opening the door.

"S'Kanji," I tell him, shoving my hands into my pockets. "Who else would visit your lame ass?" I mean it as a joke, but he glares back at me. "Uhh, you know I'm kidding, right?"

Dojima stares blankly for a minute, but then smacks his forehead. "Yes—Right. Of course, Kanji," he says. "We're always glad to have you—Nanako!"

'Glad to have me'?

Bullshit! You're yelling for Nanako the second I'm in front of you so you don't have to deal with me!

"Have fun," Dojima mumbles, opening the door wider.

I get it—To a cop I'll always be a pain in the ass.

Once I step inside, he leaves the door for me to lock and settles in at the tall table with his pile of work that never seems to get smaller. I see Dojima rub his eyes and gulp down coffee.

The constant paperwork did decrease for a while last year, but I've heard lately he's back at it all the time. Though he still never seems to make a dent...

Nanako comes into the room all smiles. "Kanji! Let's go outside," she calls over, carrying a soccer ball. I agree and we head out to the backyard. I brought some projects, but she seems more excited to have someone to play outdoors with.

We come back in after Nanako trips on a rock that was at a funny angle. Of course she's not crying, but she scraped her elbow bad enough that it's bleeding. I'm not worried about the cut as much as I am that Dojima is gonna be really angry.

"Yo!" I shout, unsure where the man went. "Where's the first aid kit?" I check in the bathroom but I don't see it. Nanako's sitting on the couch holding a paper towel to the cut.

"It's over there," Nanako tells me, pointing with her free hand. I clean it gently and grab a roll of gauze. The kid shrugs at me so I just wrap it until the whole thing's covered. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Dojima walks in from the garage while I'm putting the kit away. "What happened?!" he yells when he sees all the bandages. He drops a bag of groceries and rushes over. "How did you fall? Is it still bleeding? Can you move it?" He peppers the poor girl with questions while she gapes, feeling totally fine.

"It's nothing," I say from behind them. "Just a little—"

"Yeah, it's only this big," Nanako gestures where she got hurt and Dojima wheels on me, super angry.

"Then what's with all the damn gauze?!" he growls. "I almost had a heart attack!"

I back up a few steps. "S-sorry! I didn't know what to do."

He sighs and rubs his forehead, calming down now that he knows there isn't anything really wrong. "It's—Don't worry about it." I think that's his version of an apology.

Dojima takes the gauze off gently and checks out the slightly-bloody scrapes. He discards what I used and motions for me to get the first aid kit out again. He rewraps her arm carefully, using a much smaller amount than I did and securing it with a small piece of medical tape.

"All better?" he asks Nanako, even though she still hasn't given much of a sign it even bothers her.

She nods and glances over at me. "Are you mad at Kanji?"

"What?" Dojima balks. "Ah, no. I was worried because I thought you got hurt."

"Then why did you yell at him?" she demands, gaining steam and staring distrustfully at her father.

Dojima looks back at me. "I trusted him to take care of you and I thought you got hurt," he plainly admits. "So yes, I suppose I did yell at him..."

Huh.

"I'm sorry," Dojima grudgingly apologizes, folding his arms like a kid.

"Don't worry," I tell him, laughing a little. "We had fun, right?" I grin at Nanako and walk over to the couch again. "I'll come back soon and bring those animals I was telling you about."

She smiles back and I decide it's time to get moving. "I'll take off," I say to the two of them. "We'll be more careful next time."