"What were you thinking, Yuzu-cchi?! I told you to wait for us before you did anything!" Harumi screamed as she slammed both of her palms down on the table.

"I just did what I judged to be right for the situation, Harumin!" Yuzu defended herself.

"That's not the point here! Do you understand what you've done? You're soaked in Kurosawa's blood and you shot the second son of the Udagawas!" Harumi bellowed in anger, her brows furiously fighting each other as she did. Yuzu had never seen her best friend so angry but she wasn't going to back down. She did nothing wrong, that was her firm belief.

"And what do you expect me to do? Just let Udagawa Yasu go? He's clearly guilty!" Yuzu shouted back, slamming her own cuffed hands on the table.

"Then tell me, Okogi Yuzu. What evidence do you have against Udagawa Yasu?" A man's voice spoke as the door creaked open. It was the Chief, his stern blue eyes filled with enough disappointment to pass around, "You can leave us for now, Taniguchi-san."

"Yes, sir." Harumi looked at Yuzu, her eyes filled with hurt. She then saluted her senior, turned on her heel and left the interrogation room.

"Sit down, Yuzu." The chief motioned for Yuzu to take a seat. He dropped a folder on the table and sat down, clutching his grayed crown in his trembling hands, "What made you act out like this?" He asked her with a softer tone.

"I had reason to believe that Amemiya wasn't guilty of anything except Aihara Mei's kidnapping and the attempted murder of Aihara Sho." She answered him, her eyes planted firmly on the chief.

"On what basis?" The chief spoke, gritting his teeth in between words. He was clearly very upset with what Yuzu had done but the blonde saw no reason for everyone's negativity towards her actions.

"Amemiya Hideki was in contact with Udagawa Yasu, he treated his injured eye which Aihara Mei inflicted on him. Hibiki-san also noted that the blood under Homura Mio's nails was odd and seemed to have been diluted. My guess is that he took the blood from Amemiya's wound, diluted it to keep it from drying out, then planted it onto Homura Mio's fingernails."

"Udagawa Yasu was also seen in the company of the Yamamoto brothers, the same ones from the double homicide we found a few days ago. When Kurosawa-senpai arrived at the scene, he took one look at that invitation and quickly left. I didn't understand why he did that until I found Kurosawa-senpai." Yuzu furrowed her eyebrows, she regretted getting there too late. If she hadn't taken so long, maybe Kurosawa wouldn't have sustained those injuries.

"And that is?" The chief impatiently chided her. He had this tone and demeanor which felt like he was somewhat mocking Yuzu. She didn't like it but she did trust the chief and this may as well be the best and last opportunity to shed some light on Udagawa as the mastermind behind it all.

"It was a warning. The brothers must've crossed Udagawa Yasu and he went after them for it. Kurosawa-senpai called me yesterday evening. He told me to come and meet him if I wanted answers and that it might be my last chance to get them."

The chief sighed in dejection as he leaned back on his chair. His lids hid the ice blue eyes that were reminiscent of Matsuri's yet very different, "Yuzu, Kurosawa is dead. We are unable to verify your claims." He opened his eyes and slumped forward, "What am I going to tell your mother?"

"I don't understand, what's happening?" Yuzu was a little unsettled by the chief's actions. She had been held at the station for more than 12 hours now and nobody was telling her anything. It was even the first time that she heard of Kurosawa's passing, regrettably, that also meant that the man, much like everyone else, took all of his secrets to the grave.

"The Udagawa family is filing a case against you. They're out for blood and I can't protect you from this, Yuzu."

"Let them. We have evidence against him, right? He was the only person in that room! What else would he be doing there?!" Yuzu raised her voice in frustration.

"We've just done a paraffin test on Udagawa Yasu. He didn't fire a gun. The only person that had a gun in that room was you, Yuzu."

"There are ways around it! You know that, chief! He must've used a cloth or wore gloves maybe he even-"

"Yuzu!" The chief interrupted her, "There was nothing. We found nothing. And regarding the rest of what you mentioned... I'm sorry, but with Kurosawa gone. It's your word against his."

The chief stood up and paced around the room, one hand wrapped around his torso as he furiously rubbed his lower face with the other.

"They found... nothing?" She shook in her place. Was she wrong? No, that can't be. All of the evidence pointed towards Udagawa and there was no way everything was wrong. What exactly did he do? How did he shoot Kurosawa? There must've been a reasonable explanation for this. There must be one, otherwise what was left to think about? That there's still a snitch at the police department? Was it Goro? Hibiki? Someone else?

"There's something else." The chief said as he approached the table again, "Look at this." He pushed the folder towards Yuzu.

"This contains a detailed report of the incident and everything we found at the scene. I'm giving this so you can look over it but Yuzu, you should know that the Udagawas aren't people to be trifled with. That's why I gave Goro the express order to prevent any further inquiries into them unless we have hard evidence." The chief sighed heavily.

Yuzu opened the folder and scanned through the documents in it. She flipped from page to page, just glancing at the basic information that was in it. A few pages later, she noticed something sticking out from the upper left corner of the file. She drew it out and immediately recognized the photo.

"Chief... what's this?" Yuzu asked. Her hands shook as she showed the photo of a small girl with white hair and blue eyes.

The chief noticed the pained expression on Yuzu's face.

"That's the other thing I wanted to mention. They're calling for your dismissal on the grounds of negligence and they're using her to strengthen the case against you." He rubbed his temples in frustration and silence settled in the room for a few minutes.

Yuzu's face paled and she wished that the chief had finished with the grim news at this point, but he was far from done, "In any case, we'll provide a lawyer for you, should the need arise. You will also be barred from participating in any of the pending cases... and you are suspended until further notice. Please, hand over your badge and gun for the time being." He stretched his arm out, waiting for Yuzu to hand over the badge that was still in her belt.

"But Chief!" Yuzu got up from her chair and protested.

"No buts. Hand them over. Now." His stern blue eyes looked at her with authority.

'Damn it!' Yuzu thought as she pulled her badge and furiously slammed it on the table. She bit her lip in frustration, 'it can't end like this.' She thought.

Nothing stung more than the fact that Udagawa had the upper hand purely because of his family's money and influence. How could she have missed this? She thought of the man as a friend and yet it never once crossed her mind that he could've been more than he showed - just thinking about it made her stomach churn in anger.

"You're free to go home. I trust that you won't run from your mistakes." The chief said as he took the badge and gun from the table, "Taniguchi will uncuff you soon. I'm sorry, Yuzu." He apologized as he left the room.

Harumi stood in front of the door, her back flush against the cold concrete wall. 'Stupid blonde.' She thought to herself. Yuzu wasn't the only one who was feeling down about everything, in fact, she didn't even realize how everyone else felt towards the whole incident, especially Harumi.

The plum-haired girl felt a mixture of anxiety, anger, and disappointment. She always thought of Yuzu as a sister, that was how much she cared about the blonde, yet the girl didn't trust her enough and kept her in the dark. In a way, she also felt betrayed.

"Taniguchi," the chief called out to her and she stood upright to acknowledge his presence, "uncuff Okogi, she's free to go home."

"Chief... what's going to happen to Yuzu-cchi?" She asked. She was mad at the way Yuzu decided to go about the whole incident, but she still cared about the girl.

"There's not much we can do for her now. All of her cases will be transferred over to you, I'm trusting you to find a way to get her out of this, Taniguchi." He closed his eyes and sighed, "Like father, like daughter." He mumbled under his breath.

"You knew Yuzu-cchi's dad, Chief?" Harumi asked with sheer curiosity.

"Yes, he was my junior back then. If you're wondering what he was like, well, just look at Yuzu and imagine her being taller and with masculine features. There's not much left to imagine after that." The chief chuckled. He remembered the days where Kyou spent most of his time fooling around the station and pissing everyone off.

"Listen up, Taniguchi. I know you're very close to her and that's why I'm putting this burden on your shoulders. Yuzu is like a daughter to me and Ume will never forgive me if I let her daughter go to jail like this. I'm entrusting you with a lot, I know. But I believe in you."

"And why exactly are you doing nothing, old man?" Matsuri's tone was filled with anger. She heard the entire conversation but she didn't care for reason, she was plainly unhappy with her father's refusal to do anything despite his position.

"Matsuri, what are you doing here?" The chief turned and looked at the girl.

"I came to see Yuzu-chan. Now answer my question, why aren't you helping her? You're the chief of the god damned police and you're entrusting Yuzu-chan's fate to a junior detective? Don't make me laugh." She scoffed at her father. She didn't mean to insult Harumi like this but clearly, the chief could do better.

"Matsuri, you need to understand that my position has little bearing when we're talking about people with enough money to bend the truth. The best I can do for Yuzu is to-"

"To what? Abandon her? Like you abandoned her father's case to Kurosawa?"

'slap'

A hand flew across and landed on Matsuri's face. The force was strong enough to make her wince and cradle the afflicted spot. Matsuri looked directly into the eyes of her attacker, her eyes filled with anger, but she was met head-on with hazel eyes that were unforgiving. She never thought Harumi could muster such strong emotions.

"I'm not going to let Yuzu-cchi go to jail. How dare you even imply that, Matsuri?" Harumi wasn't in the mood for Matsuri's antics. She understood and forgave the girl for most of her tantrums but this was too much. To think she was looked down on to the point that she would be accused of being similar to Kurosawa, didn't sit well with her.

"You might have been the one she grew up with, but that doesn't mean you're the only one who cares about her, Matsuri." Harumi bit her cheek. This was frustrating.

"That's enough." The chief intervened. Not wanting the situation to get out of hand, "Take Okogi home, Taniguchi. And you, Matsuri, come with me." He urged the girl to follow him.

Yuzu sat quietly inside the interrogation room. She read the files that the chief gave her, trying to look for a way to prove that the actions she took were just. Unfortunately, much like the chief said, there wasn't anything in that building. The bullets that killed Kurosawa were also identified to be from a pistol, but no gun was found at the scene except for Yuzu's. Not like that would ever match the bullets since she didn't shoot him and Harumi could confirm this.

The blonde pulled out the photo that she previously saw on the file. She lightly grazed her finger on top of the girl's face, a pained smile on her lips. It's been three years now but the memory was still vivid, she could never forget it. No, she will never forget it.


Notes:

This wasn't the original chapter that I was going to release as the 50th. I wanted it to be more of a 'bang' but it felt like discussing this was part of the natural progression of the story. So... I'm moving the bangy (No, not that 'bangy' the innocent bangy) chapter onto the next one.


Ayeee. This got long... I can't believe I actually got to 50 chapters. Though arguably, the chapters are relatively short which attributes to how it piled up this much but still!

This has been a very long journey and we're nearing the end! I wanna finish at 60 chapters or so but I guess I'm not the best at throwing an estimate. I originally thought I'd be finishing this fanfic at around 30 chapters but as I wrote it just kind of... ballooned. Which is an understatement, It BALLOONED. Haha!

I've enjoyed writing this tremendously and I hope all of you are enjoying it as well. I mean, sure I get lazy to update sometimes but heeeey, 50 chapters in 2 months! I've never done so much in my life. \(T∇T)/

Thanks to everyone who's reading this and also everyone who's throwing words of encouragement at the comment section.

The theories you guys throw in there also have me enamored and I often feel very flattered that people are delving heavily into this. I often read those long posts that have so many ideas in them and I wanna be all like 'But are you really sure?!' Of course, I never say anything because I doubt anyone would appreciate being spoiled.

Anyway, I appreciate everything and thank you for enjoying this! Let's make the best out of the remaining chapters! ୧⍢⃝୨