"Look what I found on YouTube, Yato," Yukine said, holding out his phone and smirking evilly.
"What?" Yato took the phone and lit up with delight. Yukine furrowed his brow in confusion. "Everybody guess what Yukine found!" He shouted.
"What's that?" Kazuma asked.
"A video of my third proposal to Hiyori! We should all watch it together in the briefing room, I've never been able to find a video of it before!" Yukine looked around, surprised to see everyone nodding in agreement. He'd found this video to be mean to Yato, it had actually been quite hard, and he couldn't understand why he wasn't embarrassed.
"That's because I filed take down requests on all of them!" Hiyori said, "I was trying to keep my mom from seeing it, I don't believe I missed one!"
"What's going on?" Tenjin asked, leaving his office at the commotion.
"Yukine found a video of my third proposal to Hiyori!"
"That was nice of him," Tenjin said, giving Yukine an approving nod.
"What?" Yukine asked disbelievingly.
"Let's do it and rate it," Take suggested. His suggestion was followed by a series of enthusiastic 'yeah's and a mass migration to the briefing room where there was a large flat screen television for a better viewing experience.
Once they were all piled into the conference room, with Yato and Hiyori in the seats of honor and the rest of them were sitting with white boards in their hands ready to write down their scores. Even Tenjin was participating while a very confused Yukine pulled up the video on the monitor.
"Wait a minute, this video is titled 'idiot gets rekt after failed marriage proposal' is there going to be any footage of the actual proposal or is this just a video of Hiyori yelling at him?" Kazuma asked.
"I still want to watch it if it is," Take said.
"I didn't yell that much," Hiyori protested, looking faintly uncomfortable.
"Yato cried," Kazuma reminded her.
"Yato always cries. He cried this morning because Mickey licked his finger."
"THEY WERE SWEET MOUSE KISSES BECAUSE HE LOVES ME!" Yato cried. Hiyori made an 'I told you so' face at Kazuma.
"Okay everyone shut up, the movie is starting," Bishamon said. Yukine hit play and Yato's face lit up at the first frame.
"Yes!" He whispered. "It's the whole thing!"
A street violin player changed songs abruptly at Hiyori as she walked past, laughing at a joke Yato had told. She looked at the violin player curiously, then looked at Yato suspiciously. She opened her mouth to say something, but he spun away, looking delighted. Hiyori crossed her arms and frowned, unamused, obviously aware of what was happening. To everyone's delight except her own, Yato started singing.
"It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do…"
"Cliché song choice, Minus three!" Bishamon called.
"It was new at the time!"
"Your singing isn't as horrible as I expected, plus one half," Take said.
Yato stripped off his jacket and cast it to the side, revealing a sequined vest and broke into a choreographed dance with the violin player. Hiyori's face was obviously burning even on the shaky camera footage, though when Yukine looked from the on-screen Hiyori to the lady in question in real life he saw she was trying to conceal a small smile, whereas Yato was grinning proudly.
"You were very enthusiastic," she said gently.
A crowd gathered around Yato and the dancer, and several smartphones were held up recording, but Yato paid them no heed, he had eyes only for Hiyori, though he seemed oblivious to Hiyori's discomfort. She turned to leave, but a wall of people blocked her path. Yato took her by the hand and spun her around. As he dropped to one knee four people holding a large bird cage rushed forward and released doves into the air. They took flight right as Yato asked the question.
"Will you marry me?"
"Nice effect, Yato," Daikoku said, sounding impressed.
"Doves are very classy, plus three," Tenjin added.
"No," the Hiyori on the video said, loud and slow as if to make sure Yato understood. She looked livid.
"Now we're getting to the good part," Bishamon said, rubbing her hands together.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Yato? Proposing again? Do you want me to report you to HR? How would that look on your record, or to social workers trying to decide if you are a suitable guardian for your younger sister? This needs to stop and you need to focus on Hiiro and stop chasing after me!" Hiyori was shouting now, pointing an angry finger in the devastated Yato's face.
"You know that these proposals are going to be shot down, and you still waste money on them. Didn't you tell me just a few days ago you were worried about how much the school the psychologist recommended for Hiiro cost? How many times do I have to tell you that we're never getting married for you to get it? How much money that you could have been saving for Hiiro did you spend on this? Doves, Yato?"
"This is brutal," Kiun winced.
"Now I feel bad for looking forward to this part," Take said.
"I may have gone overboard…" Hiyori admitted. Yato in real life was wearing a pained expression as he watched his own face crumple on the video.
"This is irresponsible and inconsiderate!" She hesitated when Yato's shoulders started shaking. Presumably he was crying, but it was impossible to tell from the video. When she resumed speaking her voice was gentler. "Yato, stop crying, this isn't a decent way for a police officer to behave, especially not one who is a single dad. Be someone your sister can look up to." That had been exactly the wrong thing to say, because Yato let out a high-pitched wail. Hiyori sighed and dragged Yato to his feet and away from the crowd. The video ended when she elbowed her way through the mob and out of sight.
"Damn Hiyori," Take said.
"I felt that all the way over here. Now I feel bad for not being nicer to you after that happened," Kazuma said, giving Yato a sympathetic look.
"She was right though, I did spend too much money on that proposal. I started going more economical after that."
"I liked it!" Bishamon declared, to no one's surprise. "You were brutal!"
"You're pretty scary, Hiyori," Yukine chimed in.
"I am sorry I was so harsh. I was really embarrassed but I should have been more patient."
"There's always proposal number seven!"
"Oh God no," Hiyori groaned, looking ill. "Please tell me you haven't already started planning." Yato flashed her his most innocent smile but she did not fall for it. "Yato…"
"I can't spoil the surprise!" He said, eyes lighting up. "I should go for doves again since money isn't as tight now!"
"Don't you dare!" Hiyori said, pointing a warning finger in his face. Yato looked from Hiyori's eyes to the tip of her finger, then back to her face, smile never wavering. "Yato I'm not saying no and meaning yes, I'm saying no and meaning no!"
"Okay," Yato said, but didn't stop smiling. Hiyori did not like that look one bit.
"Kazuma, you'd tell me if Yato was planning another proposal, right?"
"Nope, we made a blood pact in elementary."
"Ew!" Kuin protested.
"You mixed blood? Seriously? What is wrong with you?"
"It was the week before we watched the aids video!" Kazuma defended, "We didn't know any better! Besides, we were kids, it's not like he had any diseases."
"You made a blood pact in elementary to never tell when Yato was going to propose to Hiyori? How long has he been in love with her?" Yukine asked.
"Not that long!" Yato snapped.
"No, we made a promise to always be best friends, there was a whole set of rules and everything. I saw it in Huckleberry Finn."
"And how long did it take Yato to break all of the rules?" Take asked, sounding amused.
"He didn't," Kazuma replied seriously. "It was a blood pact."
"Wait, what?" Bishamon asked. "He's seriously never broken one? Yato never follows any rules."
"They're not rules, they're promises!"
"So, neither of you have ever broken any of the rules you made way back when you were kids?" Hiyori asked in disbelief. Yato and Kazuma shot each other a loaded look and seemed to come to a wordless agreement.
"Yup," Yato said at the same time Kazuma replied "that's right" and then they both got to their feet and hurried out of the briefing room, leaving through different exits.
"Wait, what?" Bishamon asked.
"Did what I think just happened happen?" Kiun asked.
"How strange," Tenjin said thoughtfully.
"Does that mean Kazuma broke one of the promises?" Yukine asked.
"How could they?" Yato whined, "they're evil and they deserve to rot in prison!"
"Good thing that's what we're here for," Kazuma said, patting Yato on the shoulder. "We're trying to make sure that happens. We're the police, it's our job."
"Well we better get these guys!"
"We'll do our best, Yato. They'll have the full force of the EPD coming down on them," Tenjin said.
"Anyway," Bishamon continued, rolling her eyes, "We've been tracing this animal trafficking ring for months and finally we've got a solid lead. We're going to need everyone's help to take these guys down. Take and Kiun, I want you staking out their last known base of operations. Kazuma and I are going to interview the people who bought dogs with falsified papers, which is how we got our only solid lead. Yato and Hiyori you guys are going to trace the fake papers and find out where they're coming from."
"We'll get them!" Yato cried, "they're going to jail for being mean and dog fraud!" The entire room groaned, and Tenjin dismissed the meeting.
"What? Dog fraud is a thing!"
"I don't know enough about dog certifications to know what is wrong with these. Do we have authentic papers to compare them too?" Yato asked, holding the falsified documents up to the light.
"I called the American Kennel Club and they're sending some over, they should be here after lunch."
"You're so smart."
"Thank you."
"Where do you even go to say your dog is purebred or…" he paused to peer down at his case file, "not a cat."
"For the cat thing I would say kindergarten, but you get Pedigrees through the American Kennel Club. They're sending information about the process with the paperwork."
"Petigrease?"
"Pedigrees with a D. You have to have one for your dog to participate in dog shows for money."
"Hiiro and I watch the Thanksgiving on every year!"
"That's sweet."
"Maybe I should buy her a puppy."
"Maybe you should wait until she is living with you full time, so she doesn't miss her puppy growing up."
"You're right… but we still don't know when that might be."
"What happened? I thought she was doing better."
"She was," Yato sighed, leaning back in his chair and throwing down his pen. "But she attacked her roommate. I have to drive up Thursday for a parent teacher conference."
"She attacked her roommate? She hasn't had a violent fit in years! I thought she was past that, what's going on?"
"I thought so too, but she's been dodging my calls, and when she does pick up she says, 'everything is fine, Yato.' Like I'm going to believe that."
"Could she be starting another cult?"
"I don't know, I don't know why she'd be getting into fights over it, she was pretty slick about it last time, remember it was one of the others that blew the whole operation last time."
"When is the last time you went to see her? Maybe she's lashing out to get your attention."
"Maybe, I'm driving up after work Wednesday and taking off Thursday and Friday to spend time with her. The headmaster told me the school is having a cultural festival and it's open to the public."
"The headmaster told you? Not Hiiro?"
"Yeah," Yato replied. "I don't know why she didn't tell me. When I get up there I'm going to try to get at what's wrong."
"I hope you work everything out with her, and that this doesn't affect her coming home."
"Thanks, but do me a favor and don't tell anyone, okay? I don't want to worry everyone until I know what's going on."
"Yato, of course I'll keep it to myself if that's what you want, but you've got to know we're always worried about Hiiro, she's a part of the family." Yato smiled gratefully.
"Thanks, I'd rather not distract everyone from the case right now. If it turns out to be a big deal, I'll let everyone know when I get back."
"Does Kazuma know? Is not keeping secrets in that blood pact of yours?"
"Of course, Kazuma knows, he was the first person I told."
"So, you've really never broken one of the rules from the blood pact?"
"It was a promise, Hiyori."
"You've broken plenty of promises before."
"Not this one."
"And there's no way that you'll confirm or deny if Kazuma broke one of them, right?" Yato tapped his nose and winked at her. "Thought so."
"So, what are we going to do while we wait for the paperwork from the AKC? I have no idea what a pedigree is supposed to look like!" Yato said.
"I don't really know, desktop football?" Yato's face lit up.
"You dare to challenge the reigning champion?"
"Oh, I dare alright," Hiyori said, a challenge in her voice.
They stared each other down silently for thirty seconds, each sizing the other up. Thirty seconds of silence passed before the storm when they both leapt into action, shoving files and other office clutter to the side. Yato very nearly knocked his monitor onto the floor, but it was saved by Hiyori.
"That's one point to me!" She exclaimed.
"No way!"
"Yes way! I just saved you from having to pay for this! One point to me!"
"Fine."
"I get the ball first!"
"Fine!" Yato retrieved one of the many paper footballs from his desk drawer and tossed it to Hiyori, who promptly tossed it back.
"Nope, it's definitely a rainbow flowers day."
"How could I have not realized?" He retrieved the football he'd made with leftover scrapbook paper. He flicked the new football to her and she caught it between her chest and hand.
"Nailed it," she said. Yato shot her a thumbs up. Hiyori dropped into her commentator voice. "Alright, it's one and oh, Hiyori won the lead early with the magnificent and heroic save of the computer monitor as Yato struggled to save his dignity and title as reigning champion." Yato snorted with laughter, then spoke in his own commentator voice.
"Will Hiyori manage to defeat the reigning champion after fifty-seven consecutive and fantastic losses? She has proven herself to have less than no hand eye coordination and frankly sad battle strategies. She would have to overcome overwhelming odds in order to secure a victory here today against the amazingly skilled Yato of the Edo Police Department."
"Yato does not realize that his ego will be his downfall," Hiyori ducked down and narrowed her eyes at Yato, who was smirking mischievously at her. "I don't know what you're planning, punk, but you're going to eat my dust."
"What is it, nineteen-fifty-nine? Who says punk? I'll beat you and I'll talk like a normal person while I do it!"
"No way! I've been planning this game since the last time you beat me!"
"So, since last week."
"A whole week of planning!"
"Like, six days I think."
"Quit nitpicking me, Yato! You're distracting me from my impending victory!"
"If you can't handle a little trash talk then you don't deserve the title!" Yato cried, blocking Hiyori's shot and punching the air in triumph.
"Seriously?" Daikoku asked. "You two are doing this now?"
"What are they doing?" Yukine asked, standing to the side of their desks and watching the events unfold.
"It's desktop football," Kofuku offered. "They have a game about once a week, Hiyori always loses, and they are very competitive. Sometimes things get out of hand and they're a huge distraction."
"How out of hand are we talking?" Yukine asked trepidatiously.
"One-time Hiyori punched Yato in the face."
"I'm still sorry about that," Hiyori said.
"Don't be, it was awesome," Yato replied.
"So… you bought this cat because you thought it was a dog?" Bishamon asked, biting her lip as she struggled to keep from laughing.
Kazuma was tapping his foot faster than was strictly necessary while he looked at the cat that was supposed to be a dog. It didn't even look like a dog, and it was ugly. It had a squished face and more fur than Viina had hair. Which was saying a lot. He glanced over at her rather elaborate hairstyle with braids woven into braids and twisted into something elaborate and beautiful. She kept it up and out of the way while they were in the field, and not for the first time he wondered how long it took her to do all that braiding.
"Yes," The man replied irritably.
"And what made you believe that it was a dog?" Kazuma asked as the cat meowed.
"Well he said it was a dog, and he has a pedigree and everything." Viina's face twitched and Kazuma knew that she was close to breaking.
"Could you come down to the police station sometime this week and describe this man to a police sketch artist?"
"Yeah, sure," the man replied.
"Well thank you so much, your information has been a huge help," Viina told him.
Her face split into a smile as soon as the door closed and Kazuma pressed his lips together and shook his head stiffly. He took her by the upper arm and herded her towards the elevator, fighting back his own laughter.
"Keep your cool, Viina, not where he can hear us."
"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm super cool," her voice shook. Kazuma kept his hand on her arm until the elevator doors closed behind them and they collapsed laughing against the walls, laughing.
"I don't believe this," Viina said, "a fucking cat."
"How could he think that cat was a dog?" Kazuma asked, leaning against the wall of the elevator. He reached out and pressed the button to go down while Viina laughed loudly.
"He was so off put about it too! It didn't even resemble a dog? And that smushed face?" Kazuma pressed a hand to his forehead.
"It's like Yato with that damned rat."
"Should we go back and give him Yato's number? They'd be a perfect couple." Kazuma barked out a laugh.
"I wish but I told Yato I'd stop setting him up with people I just met after that last guy turned out to be a flat-earther." Viina practically screamed with laughter.
"A what?"
"A flat-earther," Kazuma groaned. "Apparently I have garbage taste in men." She laughed even harder at that.
"To be fair, so does Yato."
"That is fair, but a little mean."
"Alright fine, to make up for it the next time he calls that rat a gerbil I'll ignore it."
"How generous of you," he grinned at her. Her face still glowed with laughter.
Kazuma's heart stuttered, and he wished for the thousandth time that he could be as brave as Yato though perhaps with some self-respect. He couldn't believe that he was living in a world where he was considering asking Yato for relationship advice, but how did he just come out and tell Hiyori how he felt?
"Let's go to lunch, I'm going to need at least an hour to recover for this before we talk to another witness, I won't be able to keep a straight face."
"Alright, we wouldn't want to ruin your badass reputation," Kazuma said.
Bishamon flashed him her most powerful scary expression then, the one that she saved for none but the worst offenders and Kazuma audibly choked. A split second later she laughed merrily at his expense and Kazuma released a long breath.
"That is not fair you are so scary."
"I know," she replied simply, brushing out of the elevator as the doors opened. Kazuma remained standing there for a few seconds before following.
"So far we know of fifteen dogs and one cat, but there's no telling how many animals they've sold that the owners haven't figured out that the papers are faked yet."
"We'll have a composite sketch of the suspect by the end of the week, we'll probably get a lot of calls once we run the photo on the news."
"Assuming that they used the same salesmen for multiple sales, we know this is a pretty big operation there may be more than one person."
"But why bother with all of this for such a small payout? We know they've got their fingers in more lucrative pies, so why the dogs- and cat?" Viina asked in between bites of her Belgium waffles.
"An operation that big probably has a massive overhead, the dogs offer a way to pad their budget with relatively low risk," Kazuma suggested.
"Man, I really hope we get these guys, getting a huge bust for the nine-nine would be great."
"Maybe if we get these guys the brass will finally approve the money for a new copy machine," Kazuma thought aloud.
"It spat ink at me last week! If I hadn't been wearing black it would have ruined my clothes! Luckily you couldn't tell much of a difference."
"Is that why you were in such a bad mood on Tuesday?"
"I wasn't in that bad of a mood!"
"You smashed another computer monitor."
"I do that all the time."
"Fair enough. You'd save a lot of money if you didn't have to keep replacing things you broke, though."
"Maybe if we catch these traffickers I can convince Captain to put a 'Bishamon' allowance in our budget so I can break things without paying out of pocket.""
"I'm sure the taxpayers would love to hear that their money is enabling your bad temper."
"They wouldn't say anything to my face even if they wanted too."
"You're… not wrong," he said, thinking of her expression from the elevator. Viina laughed again and took another bite of her waffles. She had decided it was a breakfast for lunch kind of day, so they'd entered the realm of the unknown: Denny's. She liked the altered sense of reality here.
"So how come I didn't know about this blood pact from when we were kids? We were together all the time I don't know how you managed to keep it from me." She laughed at the distressed look on his face. "Don't worry I'm not gonna try to make you spill all your secrets."
"To be honest, I think you knew even if you didn't know you knew," Kazuma answered. Bishamon tilted her head in thought.
"I guess you're right, I always knew there was a stronger bond between you two than with most people. Did you really break a rule though? You're the most rule abiding person I know."
"I'd rather not say."
"So yes," she said, leaning back against the booth and fixing him with a piercing gaze. "Interesting."
Kazuma sighed in resignation. Perhaps it was unavoidable, what with the suspicious way he and Yato had behaved this morning and his refusal to answer just now. Even so, Viina wasn't the gossiping type, and the farthest this information would spread would be to Hiyori. Yato had never spoken of either one of the events ever again, and more than likely he never would. Yato was good at keeping secrets, it was Kazuma who let things slip.
Twice.
"And Yato really never broke a rule? He lives to break rules."
"Not these, not ever."
"Hmm." Bishamon continued to watch him thoughtfully. "Does he tell you everything? Including about his wet dreams about Hiyori?" Kazuma groaned and smacked his face against his hand, and she laughed at the obvious truth in his actions.
"Why is he the way that he is?"
"I wonder if they've made any progress in the investigation," she asked.
"Nope, five minutes ago Kofuku snapped me a video of the two of them playing desk football."
"Was Hiyori losing again?"
"Of course."
"Unless she makes a magnificent comeback they'll be fifty-eight and zero. Why can't they just do their work like grownups?"
"Because Yato isn't a grown up and Hiyori indulges him too much," Viina answered.
"I think she tempers his wild streak a bit, actually, and he hasn't had a fit of rage in years."
"You're probably right."
Kazuma spotted something strange in the file and dropped his fork to peer closer at it. Viina, taking note of his idea face, leaned forward as well.
"This says three different people said they got the numbers from one of those tear away posters in a laundromat."
"What do you say, Kazuma, shall we do some laundry?"
"I think we shall."
"Alright team, Bishamon called the number and set up a buy," Tenjin told the bullpen later that day. "Tomorrow she's going with Hiyori to meet the seller. This is our best chance to get a solid lead on these guys, I want all hands on deck. Yato and Kazuma you'll be in a car one block to the east and Take and Kiun are going to be in a car one block to the west."
"Great, I love sitting around and doing nothing all day," Yato said sarcastically.
"That must be why you do it all day," Kofuku said, smirking at a glaring Yato.
"Rude."
"You'll be amazing, Hiyori! You're the most amazing girl in the world!" Yato gushed, grinning despite the fact she couldn't see him.
"Thanks, Yato," she replied, amused.
Mission apparently accomplished Yato set the walkie talkie down and picked up the paper crane he'd been working on, admiring his work.
"How do you do it?" Kazuma blurted, the question that had been clawing its way up his throat finally ripping from his mouth unbidden.
"I just looked it up on YouTube," Yato said, giving him a confused look. "I told you yesterday that I was going to learn origami."
"What? No, not that; Hiyori. How do you-" his throat closed around the words, but Yato's eyes lit with understanding anyway.
"Oh, you want to know how to ask Bishamon out," he grinned evilly, as if he'd been waiting for this moment for their entire lives. Considering how long Kazuma had been in love with Viina he might just have been. Kazuma made a distressed sound in the back of his throat and Yato gave him a half sympathetic and half amused look.
"I can't believe I'm actually asking you for relationship advice. Oh, um, no offense," he added when he realized how that sentence sounded.
"None taken, I'm a disaster," Yato said.
"How do you just say how you feel about Hiyori so easily, and to anyone and everyone?"
He was half expecting Yato to say something flippant and silly and was surprised when Yato leaned forward to set his origami crane gently on the dashboard wearing a thoughtful look.
"It wasn't easy at first," he said eventually, "but it was even harder to pretend that I didn't feel anything for her at all. I don't envy you, Kazuma. The whole time I was trying to hide it I felt like I was drowning. There was this horrible weight on my chest and I couldn't get it off, but at the same time there was something inside me fighting to get out and it was so exhausting to keep all of that in check."
"That's exactly how I feel," Kazuma said, sagging.
"When I first told Hiyori that I loved her I was still so messed up from the trial and everything that happened with him, and I was trying to hold myself together and take care of Hiiro, and I just didn't have the mental capacity to deal with all that. I exploded in the weirdest way possible and proposed to her before I'd even asked her out."
"Wait," Kazuma said, "if you know the proposing thing is weird, why do you keep doing it?" Yato grinned mischievously.
"For the love of doing it! It's so much fun, I'm actually working on proposal number seven, I have a notebook full of ideas, want to see?"
"No," Kazuma said firmly.
"Well fine then."
"But seriously, I get the why, but how? How do you just look her in the eyes and tell her how you feel without shame?" Yato scoffed. It was an ugly prolonged sound that matched the curl of his lip and roll of his eyes perfectly. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the headrest.
"I have plenty of shame, but if I focused on that I'd just be drowning in my own fear, Kazuma."
"I don't know if I could ever be that brave."
"Bravery is just a decision you make."
Kazuma blinked in surprise and surveyed Yato during this brief moment of seriousness before he caught sight of Hiyori and lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Look, it's the girls!" He snatched the walkie talkie up again and pressed the talk button, any trace of his former melancholy gone. "Hiyori you look so pretty! Those criminals are gonna get a look at how gorgeous you are and be begging to turn themselves in." Bishamon made a disgusted sound.
"I really hope that when we catch these guys they play this recording back in court, so you have to explain this to a jury of your peers."
"I would be honored to tell a room full of people how much I love Hiyori. In case you haven't noticed I do it every day."
"Actually, I have," Hiyori said, "and if anyone on the jury has any ideas on how to make his stop-"
"We could kill him," Bishamon suggested.
"I could fire all of you and hire an entirely new detective squad," Tenjin's voice cut in, startling all of them.
"Sorry Captain, I didn't know you were on the line," Yato said.
"Half the nine-nine is on the line Yato and judging by how money is exchanging hands over here I'd say you just won Daikoku about three hundred dollars."
"Aw man, what was the bet on this time?" Yato asked.
"How long it would take you to tell Hiyori you loved her," Daikoku's voice said. "I'm taking my lady out to a fancy dinner tonight!"
"There's the seller," Kazuma said, taking the walkie from Yato. "Straight ahead about two hundred feet, Viina."
Bishamon pretended to laugh at something Hiyori pretended to say, and the girls slipped easily into the guise of ordinary city people out to have a good time and buy a dog. Kazuma watched as Yato's face smoothed into a cool focus, on high alert for anything that might pose a danger to Hiyori or Bishamon.
"Hey!" Hiyori called, waving merrily at the suspects. "Are you the dog guys?" The two men gave each other amused looks.
"Yeah, we're the dogs guys."
"Awesome!" Bishamon crooned. "We're the ones who called about buying a dog!"
"We've got a great deal on a purebred lab," once of the men said.
"Why so cheap for a purebred?" Bishamon asked, blinking innocently.
"Well I've got a boy and my friend here has got a girl, we like to compete them, but one night I had to watch his dog and now we've got more little purebreds than we know what to do with," the guy said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Well lucky us," Hiyori said. "Do they come with papers? I've always wanted to do dog shows."
"Oh yeah, they're certified by the American Kennel Club and everything," the second guy said.
"Great," Tenjin said, "now get them to take you back to their kennel and see if you can plant some bugs."
The next day the men hadn't taken Bishamon and Hiyori to their kennel, but had sold Bishamon a dog, which she had named Skull Crusher. However, Take and Kiun had managed to follow the men back to their base of operations and were sitting on a roof across the street until the end of their shift when Bishamon and Hiyori would take over for them.
"So far Take and Kiun have reported shipment of cats, dogs, and birds. I don't get it, why those three specifically?"
"There the most common domestic pets other than fish I'd guess. Domestic animals have a larger market of people who are less likely to know when they're being scammed," Yato said. "How's Skull Crusher doing by the way?"
"Great, one day of doggie day care and he's already smarter than you. Better at understanding the word 'no' too."
"Who put money one Bishamon refusing to give the dog up?"
"Everyone, we couldn't do a bet because everyone knew that that's exactly what would happen." Bishamon glared and Yato laughed.
"What about the birds?" Kazuma asked, ignoring their conversation. "Exotic bird smuggling is a pretty big deal, and not easy. Where are they getting the birds from?"
"I called the FBI and they've had their eyes on a certain port into the city, we're putting an undercover on it to watch for any interaction."
"Great, now we've got to deal with those guys trying to snipe our case too," Yato grumbled.
"You don't have to deal with anything for the next two days," Hiyori said sternly. "You're going to be at a cultural festival and you're not going to call any of us for constant updates on the case, right?"
"Of course!" Yato said, as if the very thought of him calling to check on the case was offensive. "I'll be giving Hiiro so much attention she'll wish I wasn't there!"
"Or pay her a normal amount of attention so she doesn't feel smothered," Kazuma suggested dryly.
"Great idea Kazuma, I hadn't considered that."
"What case? We don't know anything at all!"
"Maybe Bishamon and Hiyori will see something once they relieve Take and Kiun."
"But by then I'll already be on my way to see Hiiro, so I'll miss it!"
"Your life is so hard," Bishamon drawled.
"You are officially on your long weekend, Yato, you had better have a good reason to be calling," Hiyori said, rolling her eyes at Bishamon.
"I love you! Isn't that a good enough reason?" Bishamon, evidently able to hear him, made a noise of disgust. Hiyori stood and took several paces away on their rooftop.
"Not today, I'm not going to give you any updates on the case. Hang up and focus on driving."
"I don't want updates on the case! Okay, well, if there's anything new tell me, but I was calling to ask if you wanted a present from the festival! There's going to be stalls and things like that! Crafts made by students to raise money for their clubs."
"What is Hiiro's club selling?"
"Um, I don't know actually, but I'll get you something from her booth, unless its food. I called the principal and apparently she's also in a play, she's a ghost or something."
"Really? Do you think she was acting out because of nerves? Maybe that's why she didn't tell you about it?"
"I don't think that she wanted to do it, participating in group activities is a part of her rehabilitation program. Naturally I'm bringing the camcorder to record it for everyone."
"I'm sure she'll be delighted about that. Don't forget to just be there you know and experience the moment while you're there. Don't focus too much on the recording." She could hear the smile in Yato's voice.
"Of course, now about the case…"
"I'm hanging up now Yato." She turned around to see Bishamon waving her over frantically.
"No! I just want to talk to the love of my life-"
"Got to go, there's movement."
"Wait what?" She heard Yato ask before she hung up and slipped her phone back into her pocket.
A large truck was backing into a loading dock and crates and cages were being unloaded. A man got out of the driver's side and approached one of the men who had sold Bishamon Skull Crusher. Hiyori could hear the shutter of Bishamon's camera clicking away. She ducked low behind the short wall of the roof and dialed the Captain.
"We've got them," Hiyori said, "A shipment of animals and what looks to be fake documents."
"Great, I'll get SWAT on the line. You sit on that location until we get there, I want you in on the raid as well."
"Got it."
"I don't know why you put up with him," Bishamon said eventually.
"Oh, he's not that bad," Hiyori said. "He's harmless."
"He has a key to your apartment."
"He mostly uses it to bring gifts and the Magic Feel Better Smoothie," she said, smiling with the memory.
"Oh no, Hiyori, you don't like him again, do you?" Hiyori choked.
"What? Of course not! Don't be ridiculous."
"I don't believe it, I thought you were over that a long time ago!"
"I was, I mean I am! I mean-" She stopped. Obviously, this lie wasn't working. Honestly sometimes it was like Bishamon could smell the lies.
"I can't believe you like that moron! He has no sense of boundaries!"
"He's a really good guy, okay?" Bishamon gave her a disbelieving look. "You can't see it because you don't want to, but he is. He'd do anything for anyone, including you, but he's got a lot on his plate right now and the last thing he needs is a distraction."
"Isn't that the same excuse you used last time?"
"That was right after the trial! It wouldn't have been right!"
"I don't know, he seems pretty distracted to me already. In fact, you actually dating him might help him focus more, all the energy he's putting into trying to convince you to date him could go somewhere more productive, and it's not like you don't want too." Hiyori was surprised at the logic in Bishamon's reply.
"I don't know…"
"So, you're in love with an idiot who is in love with you, what's next?"
"Getting the evidence, we need to get a conviction," Hiyori said sternly, "or maybe we could talk about how you still haven't asked out Kazuma."
"I just love collecting evidence, don't you?"
"Surprise!" Yato cried, bursting into the room, after having knocked of course. His visitors badge swung wildly with his momentum.
"It's not a surprise if I know you're coming and you knock before you come in," Hiiro replied, getting up to hug him nonetheless. Yato kissed the top of her head and sat on her neatly made bed, patting the space beside him.
"Yeah but I didn't tell you I'd be here tonight!"
"You text me an hour ago and told me to get ready for dinner."
"Oh yeah."
"You're such a mess sometimes." Yato chuckled sheepishly.
"Well then, are you ready?" Hiiro nodded. Yato leapt to his feet. "Then to Red Lobster we go!"
"Can you afford Red Lobster?"
"Yes!" He said defensively. "I'm not a b-cop anymore, and I've been doing lots of overtime!" Hiiro gave him a skeptical look. "I have! I can show you my balance on my phone if you want!"
"Okay, okay I believe you." She herded him out of the room and closed the door behind them. "How are things at work?"
"Dog fraud."
"What?"
"Our case is about Dog Fraud."
"You mean like animal trafficking or something?"
"Animal trafficking among other things. He's also selling dogs with fake papers from the American Kennel Club. Also, he sold a cat as a dog. Bishamon bought one, a real dog not a cat."
"Don't make things up, Yato, you're a grown man, it's unbecoming."
"I'm not making it up!" He defended. "I'll prove it!" He pulled out his phone and dialed Hiyori before Hiiro could say anything else."
"Yato I can't talk-"
"I need you to settle an argument!"
"Oh my God."
"Hiiro doesn't believe that these guys sold a cat as a dog and somebody bought it!" He heard an exasperated sigh on the other end of the line.
"Hi Hiiro, sweetie."
"Hi Hiyori."
"Unfortunately, your brother is telling the truth, now I've really got to go. We're preparing for a raid."
"What, really?" Yato asked. "What the hell kind of evidence did you two get on that stakeout?"
"It's a long story but we seemed to have stumbled on their biggest shipment yet and several major players showed up. I really can't talk." She hung up the phone before Yato could say goodbye and he grinned triumphantly at Hiiro.
"Seems like you're really missing out on an interesting investigation," she teased. "I wonder how cool Hiyori is going to be tonight without you there to see it. How do you think they got the fake papers?" Yato narrowed his eyes.
"Wait a minute, since when are you so interested in my job? You're just trying to keep me distracted so I won't ask about what happened, aren't you?"
"No!"
"Yes!" Yato snapped. "Why did you hit that girl?"
"No reason?"
"What did she do to you?"
"Looked at me funny."
"Are you trying to start another cult?" He asked.
"It wasn't a cult!" She snapped, "and no!" Yato stopped walking and pulled Hiiro close to the wall and out of the way.
"Hiiro, I won't be mad, you can talk to me. I'm not Dad. Those parenting classes the judge made me take really helped, I'm a lot better at communicating than I was before you started going here. Let me help you."
"There's nothing wrong!" She threw his hand off and stormed back towards her room.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to my room, I'm not hungry anymore." Yato followed her down the hall, stopping when she slammed the door in his face. He raised his fist and knocked gently.
"Can I come in, Hiiro?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"I'll sleep out here, you know I will."
"I'll call security."
"I'm a cop."
"Go away." Yato turned and thunked the back of his head against the door and slid to the ground noisily so she'd know what he was doing.
"I guess I'll just sleep right here then. Maybe I'll show random passersby your baby pictures. I uploaded all of them to the cloud you know, so I can show my coworkers whenever I want. Who sleeps in the room next to yours? What boys do you know? I bet they'd love these."
The door whipped open so fast that Yato tumbled back onto the floor and he was looking at Hiiro's angry and upside-down face.
"You are the most insufferable, annoying, rude-"
"I'm your brother, all of those things are in the job description."
"Well being nosy isn't!"
"Actually, it is, page three, article five, paragraph two. You haven't seen it because younger siblings don't get to read the older sibling handbooks. Also, I have a court order saying your business is my business. It's notarized and everything." She kicked him in the head and he sat up indignantly.
"Why are you acting out?" He snapped. "Are there problems with other classmates? Are you being bullied?"
"No! Just go away!"
"Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong? Tell me and I'll fix it!"
"That's not it either!"
"Then what is it? Please tell me and stop destroying people stuff and kicking people's heads!" Yato pleaded.
"Why can't you just leave it alone?"
"Because I got a call from the school saying you'd attacked another girl and that it might affect your rehabilitation program and you might not get to come home for the holidays! I really miss you and I've been looking forward to you coming home for a visit since the principal declared that you had permission to leave the campus again! Do you know how long it's been since we lived together, or spent a whole day together without having to worry about your curfew?" Hiiro's face crumpled and she sat down hard next to him.
"Years."
"Exactly, and if there's something that's bothering you, tell me so I can help you and you don't have to act out anymore." She clenched her jaw and looked away.
"I-she- the poster she had on her wall just made me really mad, so I asked her nicely to take them down, I really did! But then she wouldn't so I tore them down and tried to shove them down her throat."
"Hiiro," Yato whispered. "Over a poster? What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't, okay? I just got so mad and all I could hear was Dad telling me that I had to take what I wanted to get people to respect me and-"
"Dad was a-"
"I know Dad was a lunatic! But I still hear his voice in my head and it's so hard to ignore sometimes!" Yato reached out and placed his hand on her hair.
"I hear him too, I know it's hard, but posters Hiiro? What could have possibly been on that poster to make you so mad?"
"It was nothing."
"If it was nothing you wouldn't have made her eat it."
"It's not important."
"It seems pretty important. Getting angry over nothing was always my thing, not yours, remember?"
Hiiro made a frustrated sound and got to her feet and vaulted onto her bed. She grabbed her pillow and pulled it down over her head. Yato closed the door and sat next to her.
"Hiiro, you know they're going to tell me tomorrow at the parent teacher meeting, I'd rather hear it from you first." She gripped the pillow tighter over her head and he rested a hand on one of her fists. "Talk to me, I won't be angry."
"You won't be angry, but you'll be upset," she said.
"What does that mean, why would I be upset?"
"Because she's obsessed with true crime, Yato!" Hiiro cried, sitting up and gazing at Yato with wide eyes ringed with red. A small seed of familiar dread sprouted deep in hit gut. "Especially serial killers!" Yato gulped.
"Hiiro…"
"The poster was Rabo's mugshot, alright? I couldn't stand to look at it and she wouldn't take it down, so I shoved it down her throat because she has no idea what he did to us and I couldn't explain it because it was too embarrassing!"
Yato found himself unable to speak around the lump in his throat, so he pulled Hiiro in for a hug. They sobbed as the years old but still fresh wounds split open again and spilled new tears until there were no more to shed. All the pain and shame that rode on the back of that name were as new as if the trial had ended only yesterday, and not years ago. Sometime later Yato sat back, still sniffing, and wiped at his sister's cheeks.
"Hey, let's go to Red Lobster, they won't close for a few hours yet."
"Really? Still? You're not mad at me?"
"Of course not," he said gently, "I just wanted to understand. I do irrational things when I'm reminded of him too. There's no excuse for hurting someone else, but let's go get some good food and forget about this for a while, okay?"
"Yato," Hiyori said tiredly, "it's late."
"I know I just… needed to talk to you."
"I'm not telling you about the case."
"No, it's… about Hiiro," He whispered.
Hiiro's roommate had been moved to another room after the incident and left her bed vacant. Yato had decided to stay there that night to be closer to Hiiro, but he'd snuck out after midnight to call Hiyori.
"What's going on?"
"Did I wake you up?"
"No, I'm just getting home, after the raid we had to interrogate the suspects. I can talk for a while, did you find out why Hiiro's been acting out?"
"Yeah," he replied, throat tight, "it's my fault."
"Was she trying to get your attention."
"No, she… she freaked out because her roommate was a fan of true crime and had a poster of him on her wall."
"Him? You mean?"
"Rabo."
"That's not your-"
"I'm the one who brought him into our lives when we were still both so vulnerable and messed up, Hiyori. I'm the one who invited a goddamn murderer into our home for years right after we got out of that house with our father, and I'm the one who ignored every fucking red flag that exists." His breath hitched, and his voice cracked as he slid heavily down the wall to sit on the carpet.
"Rabo had us all fooled, Yato."
"All of us weren't living with him though, just me. All of us didn't believe him when he said the blood on his clothes was from breaking up a bar fight. I'm such an idiot, and now Hiiro's got even more issues because I didn't know my fucking boyfriend was a murderer. Some detective." He swiped away a few tears.
"It's been years, it's time to forgive yourself. All you and your sister can do is try to move on and recover."
"She wouldn't tell me why she got so mad at first, you know." Yato's voice cracked again. "She tried to protect me, my baby sister tried to protect me, she didn't want to bring him up, so I wouldn't have to be upset. What kind of guardian am I if she feels like it's her job to protect me? And why wouldn't she, I'm crying in the hallway of a middle school dorm room after midnight, so my sister won't hear me."
"Yato," Hiyori said sternly, "it's late, and you're too tired to see that you're being too hard on yourself. You took the same profiling course I did, and you know that people like him are experts at tricking people into believing they're normal. He knew that you were young and vulnerable, and he took advantage. You've been working so hard to take good care of Hiiro, don't you dare say you're not an amazing brother, because you are, and Hiiro wanting to protect you says she thinks the same thing. You can't keep punishing yourself for things you did when you were young and broken."
"What about the things I'm doing when I'm less young but just as broken?"
"Like paying for extra parenting classes to be sure you don't wind up like your father? Or going to counseling to get yourself right so you can be there for her? You're making up for your past mistakes, Yato." He laughed emptily, though he felt his spirits lifting slightly at all the praise.
"Gee, Hiyori, I had no idea you thought so highly of me."
"Of course, I do, Yato, you're an amazing person. What's done is done and beating yourself up over it won't change it." Yato ran a hand through his hair, intensely grateful Hiyori was willing to put up with him.
"God, Hiyori, I love you so much. I know I say it a lot, but I do. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Probably be just as dedicated to your sister, but you'd be giving Kazuma an ulcer." Yato smiled and wiped at his cheeks again.
"I hope you're right. Hiiro deserves the best."
"As far as I'm concerned she's got it." Yato sniffed loudly a few times.
"You really are the best Hiyori. Thanks for listening and talking some sense into me."
"That's what friends are for."
"Yeah," he said softly.
"Now go to sleep. Everything will look better in the morning."
"Yes ma'am."
"Night."
"Night, love you."
Yato hung up the phone and tilted his head back so it rested against the wall. He stared at the ceiling for several long moments before he got to his feet, and went back to bed, kissing his sleeping sister on the forehead before settling down on the other side of the room.