I'm so happy reading the reviews this is getting =3 I know I don't reply to all of you, but rest assured I read and squee over every one of them! It took a bit longer than usual thanks to unusual circumstances, but here's your next chapter!

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The sleek black compact fit snugly into the parking space, and Raito undid his seatbelt before looking at the driver. "You didn't have to give me a ride, brother."

Kirihiko Sonozaki, formerly Kirihiko Sudou, smiled. "It's not a problem, Raito. Gotta balance teasing and favours with little siblings." He looked out at where they'd stopped, marked by a small sign. "Why a detective agency though?" His expression became concerned. "Nothing's wrong, is it?"

"No, no, everything's fine. I just... I guess I'm curious. Private detectives aren't very common." Raito got out of the car, and then blinked when Kirihiko got out as well.

"That's a good point." The businessman smiled. "I'm a bit curious myself."

Raito raised a brow. "Don't you have a shareholders meeting this afternoon?"

Locking the car, Kirihiko checked his watch. "I've got about fifteen minutes before Saeko starts getting mad at me.

"It scares me that you can calculate that." Raito smiled as he headed into the building with his brother-in-law behind him. Kirihiko and Saeko had been married a little under a year, and in spite of the eldest Sonozaki child's strict nature, Saeko had never been happier in Raito's memory than when she was with her husband.

Once they got to the door of the agency, Raito frowned. Why had he come here? It had only been two days since he'd run into Shotaro Hidari, and for some reason he'd felt compelled to seek the detective out. He shook himself from the reverie when he noticed Kirihiko looking at him funny. Smiling at his brother-in-law, the teenager rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, a woman only a few years older than him answered the door. "Hello! … Oh" Her eyes landed (and notably lingered) on Kirihiko. "Um… are you here to make a request?"

Go figure. Women never noticed him when he was around Kirihiko. And just forget about them noticing Kirihiko's wedding ring. Raito cleared his throat. "No, we just..." He paused, looking over her shoulder to spot Shotaro, suspended mid-step and watching them.

"Raito. Didn't expect to see you here." He set a few papers down on something Raito couldn't see before addressing the woman. "Akiko, let them in. You're being rude."

"Eh? Oh right!" She stood aside to allow them entry, and Raito spotted the third body in the room, a man in a red leather jacket who was looking over the papers Shotaro had put down, but looked up when they entered the office proper.

"Sorry. This is Terui Ryuu, a superintendent with the Fuuto police department. The noisy one is Narumi Akiko, my boss' daughter." There was an indignant huff from the woman and a polite nod from the policeman.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sonozaki Raito, and this is my brother-in-law, Kirihiko."

Kirihiko bowed very slightly, his eyes glancing at the men before going back to Akiko. "My pleasure. I didn't know detectives came in such cute varieties." He grinned when Akiko blushed, and Raito rolled his eyes, though not before catching a slight twitch in Ryuu's expression.

Akiko shook her head and looked at Raito. "Sonozaki? So you're that really rich guy's son?"

He scratched the back of his neck, uncomfortable as he always was when someone pounced on his family name. "I guess. It's no big deal though."

"Ah, this genius doesn't need the Sonozaki name to get recognized." Kirihiko nudged him and smiled. "He wanted to come out here just to satisfy his curiosity. Won't be happy til he knows everything on earth."

"Shut up, brother." Raito smiled back despite his words. "Shouldn't you be getting to work?"

"In a hurry to get rid of me?" Kirihiko looked down at his watch. "You're right though. Be all right getting home on your own?"

"Yeah, no problem." He'd probably end up taking a taxi, unless he really felt like bothering the household staff to send a car for him.

Kirihiko smiled. "I'll see you later then." He turned to the other three, again more particularly targeting Akiko. "Pleasure meeting you all." His smile dialled up to the 'charming grin' Saeko claimed made her fall for him, and Raito watched Akiko turn away while he resisted the urge to swat his brother-in-law.

Mere seconds after the door closed behind Kirihiko, Ryuu made his first real movement since Raito's arrival and stood up with the papers in hand. "Shall we get going, Akiko?"

She stared at him, clearly surprised. "I thought you said you had to wrap up that case."

"I can just drop these off with Inspector Makura before we go to the show." He gestured with the papers and raised a brow. "Unless you don't want to any more?"

"No, no! I'd love to! Shotaro, tell dad where I am if he gets home before I do!" She grabbed Ryuu's arm and pretty much skipped out of the office, leaving Shotaro and Raito alone.

Raito pressed the fingers of one hand against his bottom lip, staring after the two for several seconds before he looked at Shotaro. "So are those two...?"

The detective put up both hands in a shrug. "Sometimes even I'm not sure." He picked up a few papers Ryuu had left behind and moved to set them on the desk in the back of the office. Raito took the opportunity to actually study the place. It was pretty cozy, with a little kitchen, a sitting area, and even a bed in a little curtained-off cubby.

"Nice office." He hadn't really meant to say it aloud, but he saw Shotaro smile. His eyes moved past a game table to a second door, with several fedoras hung on it. Curiosity overriding propriety, he crossed to it and pushed it open. It only went about two feet before catching on something, and Raito had a feeling he knew why: the room beyond was filled with boxes and miscellaneous junk. So much that with only the sliver of light from the office, it was impossible to see beyond a few feet.

Shotaro appeared at his side, then, and pulled the door shut. "Ah, don't mind that. It's a storage area that's kinda gotten out of hand. Don't know why we can't keep it tidy..."

"Maybe it's meant for something else." Shotaro blinked at him, and Raito shrugged. "Seems like a waste of space."

Shotaro eyed the door. "I guess. We don't really need much space for the office though."

Raito nodded. He didn't really know what had compelled him to say that. Something about the dusty, box-filled room made him sad. The same way walking past the empty, less-used rooms of the mansion made him sad. He'd long since given up figuring out why, and Shotaro seemed happy enough to change the subject.

"So what did your brother-in-law mean, you coming here to satisfy your curiosity?" Shotaro crossed the office to sit in one of the kitchen chairs, Raito following far enough to lean against the wall that separated the office more or less in half.

"I'd never heard of private detectives in Fuuto. Just wanted to know what it was like." He glanced around the interior office, taking in the binders of case files, the various books, and the tidy desk. "I'm studying American law right now, and part of that is comparing it to the Japanese system. This is a way to compare the private sectors."

Shotaro snorted, shaking his head. "You sound like you're writing an encyclopedia." Before he could comment further, the phone on the desk started ringing, and he hopped off the chair to go to it. "Excuse me." Raito nodded politely before Shotaro picked up the phone. "Narumi Detective Agency… Boss? Yeah, just a sec…" He grabbed a pen and notepad from the desk. "Okay, go ahead… alright… Hiyama Nori? Got it. I'll head over there now." He hung up and turned back to Raito. "Sorry, gotta go work."

"What's the case?" Raito had drawn closer over the duration of the phone call, stopping just shy of reading the notepad over Shotaro's shoulder.

The detective pocketed the information he'd jotted down. "A few days ago, one piece of a pair of family heirlooms was stolen from Nozara Nahoko. She came to us to find the culprits and get it back… Boss has a suspect, but he can't leave Nahoko alone. There have been threats to her safety from those wanting the other half of the set."

"So you're going to question one of the suspected thieves?" And making it sound like a regular day at the office. Raito wasn't sure if he should consider the guy admirable or insane, but either way... "Mind if I come along?"

Shotaro had grabbed his jacket, but tripped over his own feet when he spun to face Raito at the question. He barely caught his balance in time. "What? This isn't guaranteed to be safe!"

Raito grinned, dodging past him to head for the door. "Don't worry, I'll make sure my family doesn't sue you if anything happens!"

"That doesn't make anything better!"

Even without looking, Raito could feel Shotaro glaring at his back as he followed him out of the office.

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Despite his initial attitude, Shotaro didn't make any more protest as he led Raito up and down Fuuto's busy downtown streets. The detective didn't hesitate even once, and Raito remembered, during the phone call, that Shotaro had only spoken to confirm the name, not any address. "You know Fuuto pretty well, then?"

"Yeah, spent my whole life here, got to know everything." Shotaro's smile showed more pride in the city itself than in his knowledge of it. "What about you? Your family's been in Fuuto for a while, haven't they?"

"Since before I was born." Raito had to scramble a bit to catch up as Shotaro made a sharp turn. "I don't know the city very well, though. I prefer reading to exploring."

"Seriously? Man, a kid your age shouldn't be spending all his time indoors…"

Raito chuckled as they made their way past Matsukaze Cemetery. "You sound like my sisters... Hm?" He turned, realizing Shotaro was no longer beside him, but stopped several feet behind and looking into the cemetery with narrowed eyes. "What's wrong?"

Shotaro blinked, rubbing one hand over his eyes before looking at Raito. "Sorry, thought I saw someone I knew. Come on, we're almost there."

He led Raito past the cemetery and towards an apartment building. "Hiyama lives here. Boss said he usually comes home this time of day..." Shotaro scanned the area, stopped when his eyes landed on a middle-aged man in a worn business suit sitting on a bench just in front of the building. "That's him. Come on..." He paused, turned halfway to face Raito. "But let me do all the talking, okay?"

Raito smiled, though he wasn't sure if it was his safety or Shotaro's own pride that prompted the warning. "Sure."

They approached the man casually, Shotaro standing directly in front while Raito kept himself to one side and behind the detective. "Hiyama Nori?" The change in Shotaro's voice was almost imperceptible, but definitely there. This was his job, and he took it seriously.

The man in front of them didn't look particularly impressed. "What do you want?"

"Just to ask you a few things. I'm a detective investigating the loss of some property from Nozara Nahoko. It was stolen from her home three days ago."

Nori eyed Shotaro, then Raito, before snorting. "I don't know a damn thing about that."

"Don't you?" Raito ignored the look Shotaro gave him, which perfectly combined surprise and annoyance, in favour of keeping his eyes on Nori. He'd really meant to let Shotaro do the talking, but this suspect was being so painfully obvious. Raito stepped forward, his arms crossed. "You definitely recognize the name Nozara." He pointed to Nori's right hand, fingertips digging into his left sleeve. "Your grip tightened as soon as her name was mentioned, trying to stop yourself from fidgeting, maybe? Nori started glaring at him, which only made Raito smile. "And you're only making eye contact to look angry or deny involvement. You're trying to intimidate us, but the rest of the time you're averting your gaze, trying to hide your deception."

Nori lashed out, his fist missing Raito only because Shotaro yanked the younger male back. "Damn it, I don't know anything about any dumb statues!"

Raito blinked, and Shotaro stepped forward with a thin smile of his own. "I never said the stolen property was a statue."

It took two seconds for Nori to recognize his mistake, not long enough for Raito to move out of the way before the man shoved him back into Shotaro and ran.

Raito felt Shotaro's hand on his shoulder, stabilizing him before the detective rushed past after Nori. "Hey!" Age and fitness gave Shotaro the advantage, and within a few seconds he was grabbing Nori's jacket, blocking the man's attempted punch, and laying him out with a solid blow to the solar plexus. Nori collapsed, and Shotaro glared at him. "Just relax down there for a while." He looked up as Raito caught up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He glance down at Nori. The thief had passed out. Only then did it really occur to him how it could have gone if Nori had been carrying a knife or gun, and he looked back at Shotaro. "Is it always like this?"

"Well, they pretty much always run. Boss and I have gotten into some pretty big scraps." Shotaro took out his phone, holding up a hand to apologize before he dialled. "Yo, Jin-san. I've apprehended one of the thieves in the Nozara case... No, he hasn't talked yet. Could you send someone so I don't have to carry him? I've gotta call Boss and let him know... You'll do it? Thanks, Jin-san." He hung up and turned back to Raito. "You still want to hang around?"

It only took one glance at Nori for Raito to make up his mind. "No, I don't want to get in the way of your work… Oh." He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "I do want to know how the case goes though. I'll give you my number."

"Oh, sure." Shotaro retrieved his own phone, and they swapped for a few seconds, each inputting his number to the other's contact list before returning the phones.

Raito glanced at his phone's screen before he pocketed it again. Shotaro had put himself in under only his first name… Raito had done the same on the detective's phone. He disliked attaching the Sonozaki name to himself everywhere, but who knew why Shotaro had left out his surname. The detective certainly didn't seem to care, smiling away. "I'll give you a call when this all gets sorted."

"Thanks. I've gotta sort out how I'm getting home." Raito laughed, mostly at himself, waving with the hand that still held his phone as he turned away. Even as he left, a police car was approaching to give Shotaro and his suspect a lift.

He ended up calling a taxi, and once he was home, he retreated to the library for as many uninterrupted studying hours he could get, his phone resting on the end table beside him.

It was just over three hours later when it rang, vibrating off the table before Raito's hand snapped out to catch it and flip it open. "Hello?"

"Hey, Raito? It's Shotaro."

He smiled, putting his book aside as he leaned back in the chair. "I figured. So did you close the case?" It was a redundant question, given the self-satisfaction he could hear in the detective's voice, but it probably gave Shotaro a sense of pride to answer it.

"Yeah, Hiyama gave up his accomplices pretty fast. We found the second statue in their possession and the phone that was used to leave threatening messages for Nozara. The heirlooms are back where they belong and those guys will have plenty of time to think on what they did."

"You sound like you're rehearsing the closing scene of a crime show." Raito snickered as Shotaro sputtered indignantly. "I'm glad, though. Not all cases wrap up so neatly."

"You don't have to tell me that… You were really helpful today, though. How'd you know Hiyama was lying so fast?"

Raito frowned, running his free hand through his hair. "Whenever I'm around people, I spend more time watching them than I do interacting with them. My sisters say it's a habit I have to break, but it's made me pretty good at reading body language. Hiyama wasn't being very subtle about it."

It was Shotaro's turn to laugh. "You'll have to teach me about it sometime. I'm a terrible liar."

"That's not a bad thing, Shotaro." Raito smiled, remembering something Wakana had told him. "It might get you into trouble with a girlfriend though."

"Yeah, like I've got time for that." There was the sound of shifting, and new voices in the background of the call. "I've got to go. Akiko's back and she's definitely going to give me the third degree about the case."

"Alright. Talk to you later."

"See ya." Raito hung up, putting his phone back on the end table. He was just reaching for his book again when there was a voice from the doorway.

"Raito."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, but relaxed when he looked up. "Mom. Didn't hear you come in." That was nothing new. Fumine Sonozaki had been a ninja in a previous life; everyone who knew her was convinced of that, including her husband and children.

"Didn't mean to startle you." She crossed the room to stand beside his chair, running her fingers over the titles of a few of his books. "Where were you today? I saw you leave with Kirihiko."

He shrugged. "I went to see a friend I met the other day. He's a detective, so I wanted to learn a few things about the private sector of law enforcement from him."

Fumine's hand drew away from the books, joining her other arm in crossing over her chest. "A detective? Isn't that a dangerous sort of job?"

"Seems like it. He told me he and his mentor get into fights with suspects a lot." He blinked as he heard her sigh, her hand lowering to touch his shoulder.

"Raito, do be careful. I don't like you going into situations that could be unsafe."

He nodded, patted her hand. "Of course, Mom, don't worry about me."

She nodded in return, hands going back to her sides. "I'll let you study."

He watched her go with his head slightly tilted. He knew his mother cared, but he figured she'd have been happy he'd managed to make a friend, rather than wary of that friend's occupation. Shrugging once again, he re-opened his book, though in the back of his mind he wondered what kind of case Shotaro would get next.

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Fun fact: the name of the cemetery, Matsukaze, means 'wind through the pines'. I took it from the name of a screenplay about two sisters whose souls cannot depart to the afterlife due to their obsessive love for a man.

Character trivia: Nori Hiyama uses the 'ore-sama' pronoun and speaks very roughly and rudely. Given that he's a dirtbag who plays the businessman to get close to valuables, that's no surprise.

This chapter brought to you at 4:30 in the morning! Because I am a total wacko and still completely awake at this hour! =D Next chapter, we answer some of the questions I'm sure you all have!