A few days pass, and Rei has been stopping by after work to assist Ai wherever he can.

"What would you like for dinner tonight?" He asks as he hands her a beaker.

"Hmmm… something really healthy!" Ai exclaims as she carefully pours out the contents. "The professor has been slacking off his diet."

"I see." Rei chuckles. "You're so motherly towards him, even though he's way older."

"I suppose, someone's got to look out for his health." Ai smiles. "He's very important to me, and I want him to live a long life!"

"Mm." Rei nods. "I get that, I just thought it was cute is all."

"C-cute…" Ai gets flustered as she jots down some notes. "I'll have you know I'm a well-trained, former criminal scientist"

"Yes, yes, a cute little criminal scientist!" Rei laughs as he pats her head.

Ai glares.

"Sorry, a cute little FORMER criminal scientist." He snickers.

BEEP BEEP

Before Ai could make a snarky comeback, her alarm goes off.

"Oh, it's starting! Ok, break time Furuya-san!" Ai exclaims as she hurries off to the living room.

"Huh? I guess I'll get dinner started then…" Rei slowly gets up to follow suit. 'What's she in such as hurry for?'

To his surprise, Ai runs off to turn on the television. "Big Osaka is playing today!"

"The soccer team?" Rei asks as he pulls ingredients out of the fridge. "I didn't realize you were a sports fan."

"I got into it because of Kudo-kun, but to be honest, I'm more a fan of one of their players, Ryusuke Higo." Ai grinned as Ryusuke appeared on the screen.

"Aww… a celebrity crush." Rei smiled as he watched the TV from the kitchen. "How sweet."

"B-baka! It's not a crush, I just admire him is all." Ai groaned; her eyes still stuck to the screen.

"Uh-huh." Rei teased. "Well, dinner won't take too long, make sure you eat some while you admire."

"Yeah, yeah…" Ai said, only half listening.

"Ah, Furuya-san!" Agasa walked over. "It's lovely to have you over again. I feel bad about having you cook for us though..."

"Oh, it's no trouble, really!" Rei said as he cut some vegetables. "It's nice to have a meal together."

"Still, we should take you out to dinner some time to make up for it, right Ai-kun?" Agasa looked over to her, who wasn't paying much attention to their conversation.

"That sounds lovely." Rei nodded. "Thank you, professor!"

The three came together to eat dinner. Ai looked over at the television the whole time.

"Sorry about this, Furuya-san…" Agasa chuckled. "She's usually much more polite, but when Higo comes on, she can't pay attention to anything else!"

"Oh, don't apologize, professor." Rei smiled. "She's always so serious, it's nice to see this side of her."

Agasa and Rei continued to converse throughout dinner, discussing Agasa's inventions and Rei's police stories.

"Wow, you've had a lot of incredible adventures, Furuya-san!" Agasa exclaimed.

"You have some pretty great stories yourself, professor. Imagine the fighting force of the police if we had some of your inventions!"

The two talked for a while until the soccer match ended.

"So, how did the match go, Ai-kun?" Agasa asked.

"Of course, Big Osaka won!" She happily said as she began clearing the plates. "I'll take care of the dishes."

"Oh, thank you, Miyano-san!"

Ai shook her head. "Thank YOU for making dinner, Furuya-san. Did you two have a good talk?"

"Mm." Rei nodded, checking his watch. "Ah, but I should go now, it's getting a little late!"

"Have a good night, Furuya-san!" Agasa waved. "And thanks again for dinner, it was delicious!"

As the door shut, Ai began cleaning the dishes.

"Furuya-san is so nice…" Agasa said. "He can cook, he's handy… he would make a great husband!" He said as he looked at Ai.

"Oh? If you like him so much, maybe you should marry him, professor?"

"No, I'd much rather have him as a son-in-law!" Agasa laughed. "You two make a great pair."

Ai shot a deadly glare Agasa's way. "Gross, professor."

.

.

.

'That was fun. Those two seem really close…' Rei thought as he arrived back home. He started searching through the internet.

"Hmm… it looks Higo left the Noir team after they used his brother…" Rei smiled. "I see now…"

'Oh, Shiho… who knew you could be so adorable?'

Suddenly, a small white dog began to cuddle up next to Rei. "Yes, Haro, you're adorable too!" Rei chuckled.

"Ah, that's right! I better look up some more healthy recipes to try out for the professor! Maybe a veggie pasta? He mentioned he likes Italian food…I wonder what kind of foods Shiho likes?"

.

.

.

"Oh, it looks like Furuya-san made a little extra." Ai looked into the pan of stir-fried veggies. "There's only a small serving left…"

Ai began packing the veggies in a container with some rice. "Professor, I'll be back in a minute!"

.

.

.

Akai was carrying some boxes, putting away all his things in preparation for the move.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Hm?" He looked through the peephole, surprised to see who was at the door.

"Miyano-san? I promise I'm packing up." He said as he opened the door.

"Um…well…" Ai stammered, holding out a dish. "We had some extra from dinner, I figured you could have some." She was nervous, still not being used to him out of disguise.

Akai was surprised. "Thank you…" He took the dish. "But will the chef be ok with me eating his food?"

Ai nodded. "It's ok…and don't worry about leaving so soon." Her eyes darted everywhere except his face. "I'm almost done with the antidote, so you can stay until Kudo-kun gets his body back. Besides, you can't go until you return that dishware."

"Ah, I see…" Akai smiled. "I'll make sure to take my time eating it then."

"Don't think too much about it! It's just scraps…" Ai stared at the ground. "I visited my sister's grave the other day…Thanks for taking care of it."

"Well, it's the least I could do, after causing so much harm…"

Ai shook her head. "I…I can't forgive you for what you did, but Akemi seemed to really care about you, so…" Ai gulped.

Akai looked down at the young girl.

"It's ok if you never forgive me, or even if you hate me… I'll still look out for you, Miyano-san."

"Is it true? What you did to Furuya-san's friend?"

Akai was taken aback by this question. He didn't know what to say.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt my sister, but Hiromitsu-san?"

Akai took a deep breath. "What happened that day… was a tragic misunderstanding…."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"I think it's time to get some rest, Miyano-san…" He held up the dish. "Thank you for the food. I really appreciate it."

.

.

.

As Ai began walking back home, she thought intensely about what Akai said.

'A misunderstanding…? What are you hiding, Akai Shuichi?'