It was time Ginoza did something about The Trio. For the past few days they had been getting together in the office early discussing something which would lead them to acting out of their minds for the rest of their work shift. He was going to put a stop to all of it. (And confront Inspector Tsunemori about the um, incident with Masaoka.)

He confidently strode into the elevator, only to be almost thrown off his feet as Kagari flew out of the sliding doors.

"Kaga-!"

"'Sup Gino-san! Talk to you later!" Kagari shouted over his shoulder as he disappeared down the corridor singing out 'Seeeeenseeeeiii' at the top of his voice.

Ginoza's eyebrows knitted together. It would seem he was too late, The Trio had already made their move. He wondered if he was going to have to resort to recording devices to find out what the hell they were doing.

Address your colleagues through pet-names. 3 points.
1 extra point if you get called one too.

As usual, Yayoi responded to her dares with a vacant expression. She shoved the black box into Kagari's hands, ignoring his sniggering.

"Aw man, you're going to have to come up with a whole list for this division," he chuckled. "Oh wait! Me and Akane-chan will invent the names for you! Since you'll probably use some really boring nicknames."

"Are you implying I'm unimaginative, Shuu-chan?" she asked with a straight face.

Kagari blinked dumbly, not quite expecting her to drop in the petname so easily. In defeat, he shrugged his shoulders and quickly pulled his attention to his own dare to change the subject.

Answer 'yes' to every yes/no question you are asked. 5 points.

"Is that all? All the questions I'm ever asked are boring!" Kagari exasperated. "It'll be just me saying 'yes' to whenever Gino-san asks 'have you finished your report yet, Kagari? or 'haven't you already had your break, Kagari?' or 'did you break that, Kagari?'"

Akane gave him the most sympathetic smile she could manage as the box was then passed to her.

"At least you'll earn a lot of points this time round," she added lightly.

Abruptly cry in front of a colleague, claiming s/he is "being mean." 3 points.

The young Inspector raised her eyebrows after reading her dare. "It would seem we are all going to be causing trouble for others today," she remarked. "Hm, and I need to work on some fake-crying."

"Shion has eye-drops, you can borrow some off her," Yayoi said helpfully. "But you might want to hurry, she said she's going to be holed up all day in the lab handling the evidence we got yesterday."

Caught in the excitement, Kagari jumped out of his seat and raced for the door. "I'll go get 'em, so sit tight, Akane-chan!" he assured with a wink.

Akane waved fondly as the door hissed shut behind him. Though on the inside, she was quite worried about who should be her dare 'victim.' She didn't want Masaoka-san worrying over her wellbeing either, or create more awkward moments with Kougami.

Saying that, Ginoza-san had been looked quite stressed lately as well...

A sneeze echoed through the corridor. Ginoza rubbed his nose with a frown, wondering if all the stress was lowering his defense system to a common cold. He pushed the thought away and marched along the passageway to the Unit 6 office for a particular case file.

Just as he was about to turn a corner though, the hissed gossip of a few female Inspectors caught his ear.

"-ector Tsunemori and Enforcer Kagari? No way!"

He froze mid-step and quickly darted back from the corner so he wouldn't be seen by the female Inspectors. He knew The Trio were up to something. Even the other Units had noticed their odd behaviour!

"It's really romantic, don't you think?" one of them giggled in delight. "The forbidden love between an Inspector and an Enforcer, it's so adorable but really despairing if you consider their poor chances of staying together long-term!"

Okay. That wasn't the kind of behaviour Ginoza was expecting to find out about The Trio. He just wondered whereKunizuka came in all of this.

"I still don't believe it though," an older woman entered the conversation. "Kagari-kun seems so young and free. Also, Inspector Tsunemori doesn't seem the type to mix work with personal relationships. She's such a serious little girl."

Ginoza agreed.

"But I heard it from Karanomori-san! She saw it with her very own eyes! They were scrambling out of a toilet cubicle still pulling on their clothes! They-"

THEY WHAT.

Whatever mission Ginoza had at Unit 6 was long forgotten and replaced with a more dire issue. He practically ran back to his office where The Trio were alone, innocently completing their paperwork- but Ginoza Nobuchika would be fooled no longer.

Just as he was about to enter an enraged lecture about how unprofessional a romantic relationship between an Inspector and Enforcer would be, he saw his reflection in the glass door and saw 'ARE YOU DISSTRESSED' written all over it. No, this was not right. He was going to have to remain calm and maturely confirm whether such a relationship was taking place between Tsunemori and Kagari. And where the hell Kunizuka came in all of it.

He made his entrance, receiving polite greetings from all three bystanders.

"Yes, good morning," he said stiffly. "And Kagari, a word."

Kagari blinked dumbly. He looked from his computer screen which evidently showed he was in the middle of work but Ginoza still wanted to interrupt him? Still, Ginoza stood impatiently in the corner of the room with his hands folded across his chest, showing that he was completely serious.

Cautiously, Kagari pushed off his chair and towards his boss. He tried to keep a casual tone though. "So, what can I do for you today, Inspector?" Kagari asked with a toothy grin.

Ginoza didn't return it.

"I'm going to be very blunt with you, Kagari," Ginoza began softly. "I'm going to ask what's the relationship between you and Inspector Tsunemori."

Kagari stared intently at his superior.

"Gino-san. Are you jealous?"

"What? No! Just tell me if you're in a romantic relationship with Inspector Tsunemori or not!"

More intent staring.

"That was a yes or no question, right?"

Ginoza didn't answer. He just wanted to just kick himself in the teeth for his outburst. He then felt like kicking himself in the head when Kagari answered.

"Yes, I am," Kagari said.

"...are you serious?" Ginoza asked slowly. He examined at the Enforcer's face for any signs of lies, but it was quite difficult to read the sunny young detective's smile. "The rumours are true?"

Kagari sighed. "Karanomori-san just couldn't keep it in, couldn't she?"

"So that is true too? You and Tsunemori... in a cubicle?!"

"Yes or no question again, right? So, yeah, that's all true. Is there a problem?"

"Is there a problem? You're asking me if there is a problem?" Ginoza's voice was straining to keep to indoor volume. "Kagari, she only just got out of training school-"

"Which means she's technically legal."

"-she is your boss-"

"A cute one too."

"-and you're a latent criminal-"

"Last time I heard there was no law saying latent criminals couldn't have a bit of fun. It's just that people tend not to hang out with us because we're um... latent criminals."

"-not to mention, you had the indecency to do this in a public toilet?!"

"Don't worry, the cleaning lady didn't catch us out."

"That's not the issue here!"

Ginoza was no longer being quiet anymore. Yayoi and Akane looked up from their computer screens to the pale-faced Inspector Ginoza and the collected Enforcer Kagari.

"Kagari, is this all a big joke to you?" Ginoza hissed so his female colleagues couldn't hear.

"Uh, yes it is."

"It is? So you were lying that you and Inspector Tsunemori were in an illicit relationship?"

"Romantic is now illicit, Inspector? But yeah."

"But Karanomori said she saw you two- doing-that."

"Yeah, she did."

"Just which is it?!"

About then,Kunizuka shot up from her seat so abruptly that everyone in the room flinched, bringing Ginoza's interrogation to a close. Yayoi brandished a manilla folder in one hand and waved at at his general direction.

Noticing the lack of response he had for it,Kunizuka pointed at the title of the folder. "I just finished up the case report for the Beast Case. All that's needed now is some references from Unit 6, but I believe you said you were going to handle that part, Inspector."

Ginoza nodded sluggishly.

"That's right," he affirmed. "I'll take the folder then. Did you have it proof-read though?"

Kunizuka approached him and placed the folder in his hand.

"Yes, by Tomo-chan."

And the folder slipped out of his fingers.

"Who?"

Kunizuka's face didn't even twitch. "I said: the other person who proof-read my report was Tomo-chan."

"Who is Tomo? Wait, Tomo... Tomomi... Masaoka?"

"Yes, I am talking about that Tomo-chan. Is there a problem?" she asked sharply. "Am I doing anything wrong in terms of the regulations as an Enforcer?"

The headache was coming back again.

"Take as long as you need to approve of the report, Nobubu."

This was not happening.

He really missed his plants.

Kougami was being updated on some of the latest evidence which had came in the Analyst Department with Karanomori when he received a call from Yayoi.

"Kunizuka," he greeted her curtly. "The Beast case file is all written up now?"

"If you want to read it, you better come quick before Nobubu takes it to Unit 6."

"Sure, I'll be there in a sec- wait, did you just call him Nobu-?"

"Hurry, Shin-chan."

"...what?"

Upon returning to the office, Kougami was instantly aware of a defeated Ginoza, polishing his glasses frantically from behind his desk. He didn't have a chance to figure out why since the other Inspector had instantly blockaded him.

"Kougami-san! You went ahead to the labs to look at the evidence yourself, didn't you?" Akane accused. "Please don't treat this as if it's your personal case, the rest of us need to be kept in the loop too."

This scolding wasn't a rare occurrence. Whenever Kougami had a free shift, he'd usually spend it snooping around NONA tower getting fresh information on their cases before it actually reached Unit 1 in a group meeting.

He listened to the female Inspector's idea of 'teamwork' before casually brushing it off.

"As long as the job gets done, there isn't anything worth complaining about, right Inspector?" he reasoned. "Don't worry, I won't keep everything to myself. All this just gives me something to do when I'm free."

Usually their chats would end about then, Akane would move back to her desk and Kougami would get on with whatever he was doing. However, their routine argument suddenly took a new turn.

Sniff.

Kougami's eyes widened a little. It was as if... no, that was impossible, Inspector Tsunemori wasn't the type to... oh shi- he made her cry.

She stood there, rubbing her wet eyes as if trying to force the tears back, but her glistening cheeks, her trembling shoulders and her soft sniffing made it all too obvious. Kougami stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to do. Whenever he spoke with girls it was always work-related (with the exception of Karanomori), so the whole 'social' aspect was alien to him.

Including, how to comfort a crying girl.

He quickly looked to his colleagues for assistance. Instead, he received a cold 'you-better-say-sorry-you-bastard-or-I-will-do-something-with-criminal-intent-Shin-chan' glare from Kunizuka, a mocking tut from Kagari and a despairing look from Ginoza. Screw them all.

Hesitantly, he reached out and touched her shoulder.

"Inspector Tsunemori?"

"Kougami-san is so mean!" she wailed.

She ducked past Kougami and sped out of the office, leaving Kougami standing rather dumbfounded on his own.

"Shin-chan is so mean," Yayoi commented.

"He sure is!" Kagari agreed.

"Kougami..." Ginoza began wearily.

"Yeah, I know," Kougami sighed as he trailed after Akane. Seriously, he wondered what was with everyone nowadays.

As Akane pocketed the borrowed eye-drops, she hoped she didn't overdo it in front of Kougami. She didn't feel like it was fair directing her dare at Ginoza after he faced the joint attack of Kagari's and Yayoi's dares, and crying in front of Masaoka would result into a lot of unneeded fussing on his half.

Leaning over the railings of the spacious balcony, she wondered if Kougami's recent avoidant behaviour was still due to the coffee incident.

"Inspector," a familiar voice called out behind her.

Akane almost slipped over the edge, realizing Kougami had followed her outside.

"Kou-Kougami-san?"

He was standing right at the doorway with his usual stoic expression. "May I join you?"

"Um, of course."

The two of them stood side-by-side for a few minutes, the wind being the only thing at least trying to fill in the awkward silence. Akane felt quite embarrassed after making such a scene back at the office and had no idea what sort of opinion Kougami had on her now as his superior.

She was about to simply excuse herself and return indoors but he suddenly turned to face her properly, wordlessly demanding her attention.

"Sorry," he said simply. "You're right, we're a team but I'm always off doing something on my own. I'll be filling you in more of what I'm snooping about, from now on."

"Apology accepted," Akane gabbled quickly. "And I'm sorry too, I was childish back there."

"It's actually quite relieving to see that. It's not good keeping everything inside all the time."

Their conversation dried up again and Akane considered leaving. She didn't think there would be much else to be said after an exchange of apologies. Not to mention, Kougami was observing the scenery again so she could assume that he was drifting off.

However, he abruptly began saying, "There was this one time when I was an Inspector, I went out for a drink with Gino."

Akane furrowed her eyebrows at him, not really understanding what he was trying to tell her.

"Uh, Kougami-san?"

"This was the first time I saw him take alcohol," he went on, ignoring his boss' confusion. "So I didn't know that he gets drunk just after one glass. He kept on crying about how lousy his life was and the only real hobby he has other than work was watering his plants and cleaning his glasses. He then started complaining that he was never going to get married at this rate and was going to be alone forever."

There was a pause.

"Then he asked me to marry him."

Akane's eyebrows then shot up, disappearing under her fringe. Her jaw unhinged itself without her realizing as she tried to process what he just told her.

It sunk in.

She didn't hear it wrong. She then tried to figure out what was the purpose of the story, but came up with nothing.

Eventually, Kougami finally met Akane's gaze, still stoic as before.

"You can laugh if you want," he prompted.

"Erm..."

"I don't mind, really."

Than it came to her.

"Kougami-san, are you possibly... trying to make me feel better?"

Another pause.

"Is it working?"

"Well actually I wasn't cr- I mean, yes, I'm feeling a lot better now, thank-you."

"Good." Kougami retraced his footsteps briskly. "I'll go back first."

At the very least, Akane confirmed that Kougami wasn't mad at her anymore for stealing his coffee or for calling him 'mean.' She however, wasn't quite sure whether Kougami was telling the truth or not though in his story.

(Looks like she was going to have to have a drink with Ginoza-san some other time to find out.)

Kunizuka Yayoi- 13 points

Shuusei Kagari- 12 points

Tsunemori Akane- 19 points

Did you guys miss me? Sorry about the long hold, I've been a bit busy. But wow, this came out longer than I planned.

So, how do I heal myself from the latest Urobutchery? Pick on Gino of course. And Kougami, because dude, just whyy.

I haven't replied to all your comments from the previous chapter, but I'm getting there. Please bare with me :D And thanks pinkxicexcream for the yes/no dare, and Akuma Shoujo23 for the idea for the nickname dare!

Pie.