Miusagi couldn't believe his luck. After meeting up with Nanako Dojima in front of the textile shop, she insisted that they go to the police station and report what they had seen yesterday. Her dad was the chief of police in Inaba. And he was a pretty intimidating guy. But talking to him wouldn't be the worst part of Miusagi's day.
"Come on," Nanako said, dragging him in by his arm. "We need to talk to my dad before he goes to lunch." She pulled him past the front desk, where the officer on duty flashed her a smile, and all the way down the hall to Chief Dojima's office. Nanako knocked firmly.
"Come in," Dojima invited. Nanako opened the door and dragged Miusagi through it.
"Hi, Dad!" she said. Dojima looked up from his paperwork.
"Nanako! What brings you here?"
"This is Miusagi. We walked back from the track meet together yesterday, and we saw something in the shopping district. We're here to… make a report."
Dojima looked from one of them to the other. "Alright, tell the front desk, they'll see who's available to -"
"No, Dad," Nanako interrupted. "It's not that kind of report. It's serious." She held his gaze long enough to make him understand what she was saying. After a moment, Dojima nodded.
"Follow me," he said, getting up from his desk and leading them half way back down the hall. "Tatsumi!" he shouted. Oh, crap! Miusagi thought. "These kids need to make a statement! About something serious," he said.
If Miusagi was afraid of any of the cops in this town, this would be the one. Tatsumi gave him nightmares. It didn't really make logical sense, but this particular detective scared the crap out of him. Nanako pulled him into the room.
"Nanako-chan!" Detective Tatsumi said with a smile. "And… Miusagi-kun?"
"Hi, Naoto!" Nanako said brightly. "We, umm, saw something you should know about."
"Sit," Naoto said, gesturing towards two chairs. Nanako gracefully fell into hers. Miusagi lowered himself hesitantly. Detective Naoto Tatsumi was the scariest cop on the Inaba police force, and happened to be married to his friend Kanji who ran the textile shop. She was so… serious all the time. He supposed this probably made her the right person to talk to, but he still wasn't really comfortable around her after the ten years he had been hanging around the shop. "So. What is it that I can help you with?" Naoto asked.
Nanako looked at Miusagi and he nodded, indicating that she should do the talking. "Yesterday, I was walking home from the track meet, and I ran into Miusagi-kun. We were walking home through the shopping district and we saw something that didn't make any sense. Mayor Namatame was arguing with another person. And then the person - a man, I think - threw the mayor into the back of a big truck that had a huge TV in it. And the part that was really weird is that the mayor seemed to just vanish when he was thrown in the truck. And then the man closed the back and drove off."
Naoto looked… rattled, at least for her. She hardly ever looked rattled, at least in front of Miusagi. She turned her gaze onto him and he tried not to cower in his seat. "Do you agree that the suspect was male, Miu-kun?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah, it definitely looked like a guy. And he was able to lift Namatame with ease." Naoto was looking at him curiously. "How could he have just disappeared in the truck?" he asked her.
"It's… complicated. And something that some of us have dealt with in the past. You may want to talk to your cousin about what you saw, Nanako-chan."
"Souji? Why? What is it that's so complicated?" she asked. Naoto shook her head.
"For now let's leave it at that. I'll be in touch with both of you if I have more questions." She walked the two of them out to the lobby. Nanako gave her a hug when they said goodbye. When they were outside, she laughed at Miusagi.
"What?" he asked with a frown.
"Your face when I hugged her," she said, still giggling.
"I take it you know her well," he said.
Nanako nodded. "That's right. Seems like you do, too. Why are you so afraid of her?"
Miusagi shuddered. "I don't know how to put it into words, but she completely terrifies me. She takes her job so seriously, and well, everything else, too."
Nanako tilted her head, thinking it through. "Not everything," she said. "But, yeah… mostly. She's super nice, though!"
Miusagi shrugged. "So are you going to ask your cousin about… whatever it was she was trying to say?" he asked.
"Yes. I think I should. If you give me your number, I'll let you know what I find out."
"Oh, yeah… cool," he said. They exchanged numbers and headed in separate directions. "See you later, senpai!" he yelled over his shoulder with a grin. Nanako raised an eyebrow at him and waved before setting off towards home. Miusagi headed back to the textile shop, as he'd promised to work a few hours that afternoon.
"Hey, mister!" he called as he pushed the door open.
"Sup, Miusagi." Kanji Shirogane was completely absorbed in putting the finishing touches on the cutest sunflower yellow bunny Miusagi had ever seen. He walked up and peered over his shoulder, trying to get a better look at all the details.
"I had no idea that rabbits liked bowling," he said, noting the accessories.
Kanji shrugged. "It was a commission. Kid likes bowling, I guess. You still up for closing the shop for me tonight?"
"Yeah, sure," Miusagi answered, putting on his apron. "What are you going to do?"
"Taking my lovely lady out to the movies," Kanji replied with a smile. "I'm thinking about tricking her into seeing a scary one so she'll snuggle into my arm the whole time."
Miusagi rolled his eyes. "Old people are so weird," he said, then flashed Kanji a smile.
"Whatever," he said. "I hear you've been hanging out with Nanako-chan, by the way."
Miusagi glared at him. "News sure travels fast around here," he muttered. "I take it you know everything already?" Kanji's expression was… complicated. Wait, does that mean… "You know about it, don't you. Whatever Naoto was hinting at."
Kanji looked away. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. It's… not something you need to get mixed up in, alright? You should probably just let it go." Miusagi just looked at him for a moment, trying to read what was underneath Kanji's expression.
"Right," he said. "I'm sure that's what you did."
"Hey!" Kanji shouted. "You're not… me," he said softly. "It's different, alright?"
"Yeah, alright," Miu answered, not meeting his eyes. Kanji always wanted him to be better than he was. What he never seemed to understand is that he was one of the only people Miusagi looked up to back then. Being "better" was a pretty high standard in his opinion. Before he could say anything else, Naoto came in the door, and Kanji's attention was completely gone.
"Naoto!" Kanji exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her deeply. Ugh. Yeah, old people are weird. And kind of gross, Miusagi thought. Naoto seemed just as into it as Kanji was, until she realized they weren't alone. She turned bright red and got completely flustered. She nodded at Miusagi, then turned away.
"A-Are you ready to go?" she asked Kanji. He smiled at her warmly.
"Yeah. Unless you think we should put it off," he added with a frown. Miusagi thought he looked more troubled than disappointed. Whatever this stuff that happened in the past was, it was a big deal. Naoto shook her head.
"We should go. I've set up a… meeting with the others tomorrow afternoon."
Kanji nodded. "Let's get going, then," he said. "See you tomorrow, Miusagi."
"Yeah. Have a good time," Miu said, trying not to frown.
