[Summary: The results of Nanako's mistakes begin to make themselves very apparent.]
[8/9: Tuesday]
Days passed by in a blur. Nanako slept often; although she'd been discharged from the hospital, her body was still recovering from what she'd done to it, and she was still hyped up on some powerful pain medication that had drowsiness as its main side effect. At least Souji sometimes napped with her, the cutie.
Today marked the day she felt well enough to leave the house. Actually leave the house, not just hang out in the backyard like she'd done sometimes to get a bit of fresh air. Her bruises had mostly cleared up, though there were a few around her torso that were stubbornly clinging to life. Her body still felt sore and stiff, and she winced whenever she moved, but she wanted to let the world know that she was alive.
She wanted to go somewhere with Souji. Maybe the flood plain, or...
"C-can we visit Kanji-san?" Souji asked that morning. "I want to learn crochet."
"Sure," she told him. She heaved herself to her feet, and after stretching out and assessing her pain level one last time, she took his hand and they headed out.
The summer sun was oppressive today, but she didn't realize it was going to be so hot until they were already at the central shopping district. She hadn't brought anything like sunscreen or a hat to block it with. She idly thought of using the Loveline umbrella for shade, but she'd left that at home, and it probably wouldn't be sufficient anyway since its material was rather thin.
Souji didn't seem to mind the heat that much, or at least he didn't complain, but his gray hair was darkened by the sweat from his brow. She stopped by the liquor store to buy a can of The Natural from the vending machine outside. She shared it with him, and when she asked his favorite soda, he actually had one: Cielo Mist.
"Ah, too bad they don't seem to sell that one around here," she told him.
"It's okay," he said with a small smile. "This one's close enough."
As they approached the door to Tatsumi Textiles, Nanako noticed that there was a small shrine right outside the door. A few flowers had been placed around the stone.
Souji worked his mouth as he tried to read the name inscribed on the stone. "Ku... ma...?"
A lump formed in her throat. "C-come on, honey," she told him. "Let's go inside."
Kanji's mother was speaking with an old lady, but she waved for them to head on into the back. They found Kanji hard at work teaching Yuuta the basics of crochet.
"Yuu-chan!" Nanako exclaimed at the sight. "What are you doing here?"
The boy jumped at her voice and dropped his crochet work. "D-d-don't call me that!" he scolded when he recovered.
"Yuu-chan~" she sang with a teasing smile. The boy's scowl deepened.
"He asked me to teach him," Kanji said with a shrug. "He was hanging out outside by the store, makin' my Ma all uncomfortable, so I made him come in and asked what was up."
"S-Souji-kun t-told me he was learning to crochet," Yuuta said, "and I wanna learn too!" He stared defiantly at Nanako as if expecting her to say something about that.
Instead she looked at her cousin. "Good, you can learn together, then! If that's okay with you, Kanji-kun, that is. That's kinda why we came over."
"Sure thing, Senpai. You gonna learn this, too?"
She narrowed her eyes at Yuuta and Souji. She was already really good at the chaining technique since she'd had so much spare time at the hospital to practice it in. She didn't consider the craft fun, exactly, but it had been engrossing. The fun would be doing it with her little cousin. Her hands were much better now, so it'd be easier this time. "Yeah. Let's do this!"
Kanji taught them a new type of crochet stitch and put them to work practicing it. Once they settled into a nice pattern, Nanako began to make small talk.
"So, Yuu-chaaan, why'd you want to learn this, anyway?"
Yuuta looked up from his work to frown at her. "Boss, don't call me that," he whined. A moment later he continued, "W-well, I couldn't let Souji-kun learn it on his own, so I had to take up the challenge with him!"
He looked pleased with himself, so Nanako asked, "Why couldn't he learn it on his own?"
Yuuta's mouth turned down. "Us guy friends have to stick together! If it's both of us, no one can make fun of us at school!"
"You aren't even in the same class," she pointed out.
Now his face looked pained. "I... I just wanna make cute plushies, Boss," he finally admitted.
"You wanna make cute plushies?" Nanako pretended to look skeptical.
"I WANNA MAKE THE CUTEST PLUSHIES!" he shouted, with force that surprised everyone, including himself.
After a contemplative moment of silence, Kanji nodded at him and said, "Damn right you'll make the cutest plushies! But first you gotta learn the single crochet, so get back to work, okay? You too, Senpai!"
"Heh heh," said Nanako. "And why do you want to learn this, Sou-chan? Are you going to make cute plushies, too?"
Concentrating on his work, the boy didn't answer immediately. "Want to make something for Mama," he murmured without looking up.
"Oh? What do you plan to make?"
This time Souji didn't answer at all. She forgave him for the moment. Maybe he hadn't decided on a particular item yet, and besides, he'd only just started learning the art. She herself didn't have any plans in mind. Maybe... maybe a pink alligator... though that would make her sad every time she saw it.
And... that boy really loved his mom, huh? Well, of course he did, but it was bittersweet to see him show it. It was summer break now—Nanako vowed to talk to his mom later about taking a vacation from work to spend time with him.
After working for a while, Nanako excused herself to use the bathroom, but instead of going there, she returned to the store. Kanji's mother was relaxing on a cushion, her guest from earlier no longer around. Nanako approached her hesitantly. "Tatsumi-san, umm... Can I ask about that shrine in the front of the store?"
The elderly woman smiled sadly up at her. "Ah, yes. Kanji made that. It seems that someone important to him passed on."
'Important to him' wasn't quite the right phrase, but...
The woman looked towards the shop door, as though recalling something. "I know my son," she said in a confiding tone. Her voice was kind, and stirred something within Nanako, though she fought to keep it in. "I know him more than he realizes, and with the way he was moping about, I could tell..." She hesitated, closing her eyes for a moment. "I could tell that something dreadful had happened. I feared that he would shut me away should I be too forceful in my questioning, so I simply said he could tell me anything, and he told me what happened."
Nanako swallowed hard. What exactly had he told her? Kanji did say, once, that he could never lie to his mother.
"Losing someone is always difficult," she continued, "be they pet or loved one."
The woman smiled, but her eyes held another emotion entirely. Nanako could only guess she was thinking about her husband, who had passed on. Just like Uncle Seta, she thought.
"Kanji felt responsible, you see... He told me that he regrets not being a better friend, asked me what might be done to ease that regret, but there is no answer to that. We thought about it some, and eventually settled on a shrine. Remembrance is the most anyone can do."
Nanako nodded. "Thank you," she said thickly. "We... we all feel that way."
"I had a feeling," the woman said, smiling her sad smile again. Nanako thought she might ask for details, but she never did, and so they sat comfortably on the cushions until Souji walked out holding something that, if she squinted, might have resembled an egg.
"Big sis, look!" he said, holding the crocheted object out to her. His smile was beaming, proud, contagious, the biggest grin she had ever seen on him. Nanako looked at the creature again, determined to find something to praise, something that wouldn't be a big fat lie, and eventually she noticed the colors. Red, blue, and yellow, exactly in the right places.
Remembrance, huh? Yeah... Kanji wouldn't let her forget.
"Good job, Sou-chan!" she said, raising him high and then throwing him across her shoulder. She winced from her bruises, but fortunately he couldn't see that. "Did you thank Kanji-kun?"
"Y-yeah...!" he said, giggling because she had started to tickle his bare feet. "Yuu-kun is still there with him."
"Well then, let's mosey!" she declared, figuring that talking to Kanji now would reduce them both to blubbering messes.
Nanako carried the giggling boy all the way outside, and Tatsumi-san was kind enough to hand her his shoes. They passed by the shrine again, and though Nanako was going to leave it be for now, a thought occurred to her.
"Oh, hold on, Souji-kun," Nanako said, putting him down and reaching into her bag. She then took the boy by the hand and approached the shrine, bowing respectfully. Souji knew what to do already, and she suppressed the pang of guilt that came with the realization of why that was. They clasped their hands, bowed, and then Nanako took a step forward.
She raised the cracked star mask to her eyes. Carrying it around was painful. Whenever she touched it, she remembered what she had lost, what she had missed—but that was why she had to carry it.
Carefully, she placed the mask on top of the shrine.
"It looks like a crown..." Souji commented. then he frowned, looking intently at the shrine.
"Sou-chan?" Nanako asked, hoping that she hadn't awakened any painful memories in him.
"Kuma," he said slowly.
Nanako inhaled sharply.
Souji looked at her with what Yosuke had once described as a piercing stare. She could see it now, how even though he was shy, he wouldn't avert his gaze when he was like this, and so she prepared for the inevitable question.
"Is this from the story?"
"Yes."
"Then the s-special someone..." he trailed off.
There were no more questions from him, and as they walked away, Nanako thought that there was one more shrine she ought to visit soon.
...but she was not ready yet, she was not ready to see Mr. Morooka's grave.
Instead of going right to bed, Nanako was conscious enough to stay up with her aunt and watch the news. Souji had already been put to bed, so it was as good a time as any to have a talk with the woman, and the news segment was over, so... Let's start with a compliment, shall we? "You know, Auntie... You're pretty cool," she remarked.
"'Cool'?" Aunt Seta prompted, an eyebrow raised. She always acted so imperious, didn't she? Kind of like Margaret, in a way.
"Yeah!" said Nanako. "I mean, like... When I was caught getting out of the bath with Shirogane-san. I thought... that you were gonna think the worst and I was gonna be grounded for a month!"
"Well, I could still ground you," the woman replied in a playful tone of voice. "Although it wouldn't be for that."
"And even Souji-kun was naked," Nanako went on, hoping to get the discussion past her being grounded. "It had to look rather, umm, compromising!"
Now Aunt Seta snorted. "Do you know how often your father left the bathroom naked? He wasn't exactly a nudist, but when he was a child, well!"
Nanako stared and then requested that her aunt tell her more about the dysfunctional Dojima family.
"We're functional, not dysfunctional," the woman corrected with a sly smile. "Summers could be very hot in those days, you understand. On the hottest days, Ryotaro would not always get around to putting on his briefs." She stirred her cup of tea and stared at the swirling liquid. "And then he'd proceed to invite his friends over anyway."
Nanako stared into the void with her. "...Did his friends end up naked too?"
The woman didn't look up from the teacup, but Nanako swore that she cracked a smile.
"Wait, Aunt Seta!" she declared suddenly as a thought occurred to her. "You're a Dojima, so... uh, umm...!" W-what about you, Aunt Seta? Do you like everyone the way I do? Like, were you ever tempted to orchestrate a threesome with your husband and Adachi-san...? Nanako burned with the desire to know, but the idea of asking her guardian such personal questions was frightening all on its own.
"I just find it very amusing," Aunt Seta said, "how similar you are to him in some ways."
"Hey, I'm not gonna spend my summer nak..." she trailed off mid-word. Did, did Aunt Seta know that she went skinny dipping with Saki? Oh god, Souji could have told her!
The woman was totally smirking at her. He did, didn't he?
"Aunt Setaaaa!" she wailed.
Her aunt chuckled, but the woman's amusement faded a few moments later. "Speaking of your father. I know you needed some time to relax, but you really need to call him. He's been asking to hear from you."
"He has...?" Nanako murmured.
"Uh, yes." Aunt Seta nodded with a wide-eyed look that said it was obvious that he would be asking.
"Yeah, but..."
"No buts. You're going to call him."
Nanako stared at the table, wishing the conversation could return to something playful. She wasn't ready to talk to her father. "Please," she begged. "I will call him, just... not now. Maybe, maybe at the end of summer?"
"That's quite a while away," Aunt Seta observed.
"I... I wanna talk it over with my mom first," Nanako said. "She'll know better what I should say, and..."
Aunt Seta took a sip of her tea. "It's on your head if your father gets upset with you for ignoring him."
Nanako let the awkward silence elapse for a while. "By the way, Aunt Seta, since it is summer, I was wondering if you were going to take a vacation. Y-you mentioned it before, that you have some vacation time saved up. Souji-kun really wants to spend more time with you."
The woman shifted on her cushion. "A vacation," she murmured. "Hmm..." She drummed her nails against the table.
"You could go somewhere," Nanako suggested. "Or if you don't want to, you could spend the time relaxing at home. I'm sure there are some home projects you've been meaning to get to. Maybe, uh, painting or wallpapering the house? It feels kind of dark in here sometimes. A light color would do wonders."
"I'll think about it," Aunt Seta promised, and Nanako could only trust her.
Though wait, was her 'thinking about it' in regards to the vacation or about painting the house? Nanako quickly retracted her trust and said, "Please do. I feel like you need this, and Souji-kun does too."
Aunt Seta gave no answer, not even a smile, only a distant look that Nanako couldn't even begin to decipher. For a social link, they really didn't know each other that well, did they?
But since that was the best she could do, Nanako decided to cap it off saying: "Oh, and... well... thanks for being cool."
She did smile, then.
[8/10: Wednesday]
Nanako called up Yukiko, recalling vaguely how the girl had appeared at her 'I'm out of the hospital' celebration party. Although she'd been smiling, there'd been a tension to her, like she'd wanted to talk to Nanako about something but the party hadn't been the place for it.
Right as someone picked up, Nanako switched the phone to her other ear, because she could still hardly hear out of one.
"—the Amagi Inn, Yukiko Amagi speaking. What can I do for you?"
"Let me into those hot springs, Yukiko, honey!" Nanako joked.
"Nanako! Ah, please forgive me. I've been working the front desk all day. That greeting has become second nature to me. I hardly realized I was answering my cell instead of the land line."
"That's fine," Nanako said with positivity. "Say, uh, when do you get a break? I wanna hang out with you today!"
The girl on the other end of the line hummed. "Is it possible for you to come here to the inn? I know it's far, but..."
And miss the chance of possibly, maybe using the hot springs just because she'd have to take a bus? "No problem! I'll be over in a jiffy."
The longest part was waiting for the bus. Since Inaba was such a small town, its public transportation system wasn't on par with Tokyo's. The buses ran when they felt like it rather than on a strict timetable. She messed around with her phone while waiting. Hmm, she really needed to email her friends in Tokyo. They didn't know she'd been in the hospital. Did she want to tell them?
Eventually she made it to the Amagi Inn. The building hadn't changed at all since she'd last visited it what felt like so many months ago, though some of the plants lining the path to the building were looking a little wilted from the summer heat.
She went right inside and asked the middle-aged lady at the front desk for Yukiko. She was directed into a side room that boasted a large conference table. At the far end, Yukiko looked rather small behind two neat stacks of papers. She was punching things into a calculator on the table. There was a pencil tucked over her ear. Her left arm was in a sling.
Yukiko looked up when she entered the room. The frown on her face turned into a small smile. "Nanako. I'm just working on our accounts. Please come on in." Nanako took the seat nearest to her friend while the girl finished some calculation. Yukiko sighed at the reading on the calculator. "This is ridiculous..."
"What is?" Nanako asked with polite interest.
"Traditionally, we allow towels in the hot springs. However, it's costing us a small fortune in cleaning expenses. I don't see why we should allow them when almost all other hot springs don't."
"I've never been to a hot springs that allows them in the water!" Nanako agreed. "Honestly, I don't know if I'd want to go to one that does. That's kinda gross."
Yukiko nodded. "I only thought it was normal to allow them because I was raised here, so to me, it's always been that way. When I asked my mother about it earlier, she simply told me that her mother allowed them, and so of course we will, too. It's tradition."
"Tradition, smadrition."
Yukiko held up the calculator. "I was hoping to go through all of our cleaning records and tally up the total to show her. It might convince her."
"You should also find a way to convince her to make the baths mixed sex," Nanako suggested. "I wanna be able to go with the boys, just like at the bathhouse in the TV World!"
"One thing at a time, Nanako," Yukiko said, her smile turning a bit coquettish. Nanako raised an eyebrow at her, and then Yukiko sighed and put the calculator down. "I'm glad you've come. I've been meaning to talk to you about, well... Chie."
"Oh boy..." She should've known, really...
"She lets the stupidest things get to her!" Yukiko shouted with sudden ferocity. "Really, Nanako! I can't believe she refused to come to your get-well party. You were in the hospital, for goodness' sake!"
"Well, I mean," Nanako began. "If she's holding a grudge against me, I can kinda understand."
"We argued about it! And she wouldn't budge." Yukiko sighed again and continued mournfully, "And she still won't budge..."
Nanako stared at her, eyes wide. This couple was having trouble because of her?
"She's upset because we almost died," Yukiko went on. "And I know that's true, but she doesn't see at all that you almost died too!" Nanako began to reply, but her friend kept going. "Half the reason she's mad isn't even that she almost died, but that you 'put me in danger' or something. "
"I did put you in danger," Nanako pointed out quietly.
Yukiko set her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. "Nanako, I make my own decisions. I appreciate that Chie helps me as often as she does, but I decided to head into the dungeon that night, not you. Or do you think I follow your orders just because I have no other choice?"
Nanako didn't have an answer to that.
Yukiko sighed and lowered her gaze. "Chie is just... too into being my knight, protecting my purity, preserving my honor. I'm starting to think she's not at all different from all those boys who keep taking on the 'Amagi Challenge' at school."
"N-no, don't say that! Chie is just worried about you..."
"I don't need to be babied! I want her to worry about herself, too. Let me be the knight for a change. But she's just too stubborn..."
"W-well, you kind of are the knight, sometimes!" Nanako tried. "You've saved our butts loads of times with your fire."
"That's not the point, Nanako. I just don't want to be protected as much as I am. I want the freedom to be my own person. And that's why I went to visit you in the hospital on my own, and why I went to the party when Kanji-kun invited me even though Chie didn't want to come. You should know the truth—she didn't want me to go."
With a chill going through her, Nanako recalled how Chie's Shadow had mentioned a desire to exert control over Yukiko. She'd definitely have to have a talk with Chie... if the girl was willing to speak with her.
"And now our conversations are much shorter than they used to be. Honestly, I don't feel like talking to her." Yukiko sighed and stared down at the calculator without seeing it. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm telling you this, though I'm glad you listened. I think she and I just need some time apart."
"You can tell me anything," Nanako promised.
"Yes, and that's another thing! I feel that I can talk to you about anything. It's not the same with Chie. I can't tell her that I want to talk to boys. It's not that I want someone to break through the silly 'Amagi Challenge,' but... I am interested on some level to see what I'm missing. Does that make sense?"
"It totally does!" Nanako declared, suddenly animated. "We girls are supposed to be a mystery to boys, and boys are supposed to be a mystery to us. And that's not right at all! That's why I suggested a mixed sex hot springs. I mean, sure, modesty has its place, but a mystery has to be solved, am I right?"
Yukiko giggled at her. "Oh, Nanako... yes!"
Nanako came home to Aunt Seta preparing the house for Detective Adachi's arrival. There wasn't much cleaning for her to do—she was hardly home to dirty up the house, and for a child, Souji was both low-maintenance and a bit of a neat freak. He always kept the kitchen clean after every meal.
Nanako wasn't sure what to do herself. It felt like forever since she'd seen Adachi-san. She focused instead on her cousin, who, playing with Foxie in the living room, seemed completely unconcerned for once that the detective was coming over to visit. He asked her how her day was and reported that he and Naoto had finished a puzzle together. It reminded her to ask about Naoto, who didn't seem to be in the house at the moment. Apparently Naoto had gone to the station.
Soon enough, there was a knock on the door. Souji took her hand and tugged it, but it wasn't out of anxiety—he just wanted the two of them to move to the dining room to greet the guest.
"Ryoko-san," Adachi said with a small bow when Aunt Seta opened the door.
"Tohru-san," Aunt Seta replied. "Please come in."
Nanako shifted her weight and nibbled her lower lip, because it still felt weird that they were on a first-name basis like that. She shouldn't be so nosy, but... heh heh...
"Nanako-kun!" Adachi said upon seeing her. "I heard about your accident. I'm glad you're better now."
She rubbed the back of her neck. "Y-yeah, it was scary there for a bit."
He looked at her for a moment, but apparently—fortunately—didn't have anything else to say because his gaze soon settled on Souji, who was looking up at him with muted excitement. "Uh, yeah?" the man prompted.
"A-Adachi-san, l-look..." Souji held up a stack of papers to him, and he took them with a bemused expression. "Big sis and her friends... m-my friends... c-compatriots... We colored them together..."
"Dinosaurs, huh?" Adachi said, shuffling through the stack. "Oh, is this one yours...?" He held out one of the papers—the pterodactyl.
"Yeah!" Souji declared with a big happy grin.
Adachi gave him a goofy smile in return, then began to look through the rest of the colored dinosaurs. "And I'm gonna guess Nanako-kun did this one." He pulled out the t-rex that had a big ribbon and hearts drawn around it.
Nanako's answer was only a smile. He was wrong—that was Saki's.
Aunt Seta told them to have a seat because dinner was almost ready. It was pork-belly soup. Aunt Seta had put more scallions over the pork than Nanako would have liked, but aside from that, it was a good meal and she wondered if maybe she could have her aunt teach her to cook.
"So... how's work?" Adachi asked.
"Same old, same old," Aunt Seta replied with a sigh.
When she said no more, both the detective and Nanako blinked at her. It was unusual for her not to talk their ears off about work!
"I might take a vacation," she continued. "Nanako-chan mentioned it last night and I'm seriously considering it."
"Oh? Will you go somewhere?" the detective asked. "You could visit Mt. Fuji, if you're into that."
Nanako almost laughed at the idea of her aunt climbing a mountain.
"I did that in my youth," Aunt Seta said with a coy smile, as if reading her thoughts.
Adachi seemed speechless at the idea, too, or at least it took him a while to speak. "Well, you're one-up on me there!" he eventually managed. "I've only seen the mountain from afar myself."
"Big sis..." Souji began, but he stopped when everyone looked at him. Nanako told him to go on. "Umm... big sis said... she's going to take me to the beach sometime... Mama could go to the beach, too."
What with everything that had happened, Nanako had almost forgotten all about that plan. She supposed that Aunt Seta could come along as their chaperone.
"Souji has never been to the beach," Aunt Seta reported with a mildly surprised expression. "You'll have to watch him the first time he swims in the ocean. Although I suppose it's not very different from the river, where he's... had practice recently." She was raising her eyebrow at Nanako again.
Crap, the woman really did know about her skinny dipping! "Y-yeah, you should totally come to the beach with us!" Nanako declared. "Fun in the sun for all of us. We could go as a family, or with all my friends. There's plenty of summer so I wouldn't mind going to the beach twice. Oh, but Adachi-san..." She'd totally forgotten to include him in this conversation!
"I probably wouldn't be able to get a day off," Adachi said with a sigh. "But maybe Souji-kun can tell me all about it later, hmm?"
"Y-yeah!" the boy agreed with a big smile. "I'll think of you..."
Adachi stared at him for a very long moment, his face full of honest surprise. Then he scratched the back of his head. "Err... thanks, kid."
After putting the used dishes in the sink to be cleaned later, Aunt Seta pulled out her day planner, musing to herself over when a day or two off would be the most feasible. She apparently had several meetings and a review coming up, but after some debate she wrote a note down on the square for next Monday. "But Souji will have to miss cram school," she mused aloud.
"Cram school?" said Adachi. "Let the kid have a break!"
Aunt Seta looked up from the planner and blinked at him. She looked at Souji, who was looking at her without much expression, and then at Adachi. "Y-yes," she said. "I suppose just one day can't hurt."
Nanako let out the breath she had been holding. Bit by bit, Aunt Seta was becoming a better mom.
When it came time for Adachi to leave later in the evening, he paused after Aunt Seta wished him a good night. "Actually," he said, "I wanted to speak with Nanako-kun in private, if you don't mind."
"Oh, of course," said Aunt Seta, smiling at the both of them.
Nanako blinked at him and tried to keep a frown from forming on her face. Was he going to talk to her about the case? No, more likely, she thought, he wanted to say something about Souji. Maybe ask how the boy was holding up. Aww, wouldn't that be sweet? Now she was smiling warmly at him.
He didn't return the smile, but that might be because he was looking around the room. The house had an open floor plan, so privacy was hard to come by. Although Souji and Aunt Seta had moved to the living room, they could still overhear a conversation taking place in the kitchen.
"Maybe we should go outside," Nanako suggested.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Come on."
He led her outside and to the carport, where Aunt Seta's car was parked. It was the only vehicle present; apparently Adachi had simply walked to the Seta residence this evening. She wondered idly if he lived far from here and decided he probably didn't. Inaba was a small town, after all!
He turned on the carport's ceiling light, which illuminated the two of them in a sickly yellow light. Then he watched her for a while without saying anything.
"Uh, yes, Detective?" she prompted. He had a fairly unnerving stare—it was a cop's stare, just like her dad's, and it was definitely making her uncomfortable.
"What happened to your long skirt?"
"The school one? You know, I don't really know," she replied, surprised at the question. "The hospital kind of put me in their own clothes, you know... I thought they might've given it to my aunt, but I haven't seen it in the house at all, unless it's in the laundry." It might also have been torn mostly to shreds from what it suffered in the TV World. She'd probably have to buy another one before second term began. "...Why?"
Wordlessly, he took out his work phone, and after a few button presses he showed her its screen.
By the fuzzy quality of the video and the fact that it wasn't in color, she easily recognized that it was a security feed of some sort. A few moments later in the video, someone in a long skirt ran by. Not long after that, a gangly boy ran past.
By the time stamp in the corner... early Wednesday morning, July 27.
"What the hell am I looking at, Nanako-kun?" Adachi asked when the clip ended.
She swallowed, but didn't answer. Her friends, she couldn't risk getting them in trouble! C-crap, what could she say? She couldn't play dumb now; she'd let too much time elapse.
How sympathetic was this detective to her? He'd helped her get Yosuke out of a hot mess once... but this was a mess on an entirely different scale.
"Well?" he prompted. "There's more where that came from."
"I..." she began. Then she set her jaw. "Yeah, okay. I'm the one who broke into Junes that night. I didn't fall off a damned bridge."
Adachi snorted. "You think I don't know that? That shit's obvious. That's not what I meant, Nanako-kun."
"Th-then what did you mean?" she asked with as much confidence as she could muster.
"You went after a suspected murderer on your own." He ran his fingers over his orange tie. "That's my job. I've got the badge and a gun to back me up. You and your friends think you're vigilantes or something? Kubo is dangerous. You could have died."
She was unable to meet his gaze.
He heaved a long sigh. "Honestly, I don't care what you get up to with your friends. I really don't." He paused, waiting for her to respond, but she didn't, so he went on. "But you need to understand something. There won't always be someone to bail you out of trouble."
With that, he began to walk away. Nanako looked up just enough to notice that one of his hands was in his pocket, clenched tightly around something.