Everything could change in a heartbeat.
That was the one constant Heiji learned over the years, as he did his fair share of sleuthing about and around Japan. It only took a second -a heartbeat- for everything to go to hell and back in a hand basket.
He learned to be quick, because of that. He trained his body to be as fast as lightening and his mind even faster. In order to keep up with the world, the world where the only constant was change, Heiji had to commit himself to change. So he did, a million times, he changed to fit where there was a space for the Detective of the West. He nudged his way in there, sides and size and shape all changing to fit whatever new role he was inhabiting.
Heiji was good at change. He was good at flipping around and about in the space of a heartbeat.
That heartbeat where everything changed this time around, though, he hated it.
He hated it with a passion so fierce and bright, so thick and deep, that he could never, ever force himself into the space left behind for him because-
Because-
Because the space left would be much too large for him alone, if Kazuha left it.
The gunman tightened his grip on Kazuha, she winced but did not cry out. She did not look at Heiji, she was too good for that. If she was looking at him, begging him to save her, then she might miss her chance to save herself. In a moment –a heartbeat—she could knock the man's gun away or deliver a swift strike to a vulnerable area to knock him unconscious. So her eyes were on her assailant, not Heiji.
Still….
"You tell your father that he either lets Nozomi go, or this girl here is going to have a long chat with me about her options for replacing her. See, Nozomi was in a little bit of debt and I will get paid, sex, money, blood, I don't care. You tell your dad that, kid."
Right now, the world was measured in Kazuha's heartbeats.
Hope everyone liked it! And yes, actually, this is the end. Enjoy that.