Glad people are enjoying this :) Onward!

After the morning assignment meeting Satou Miwako walked out to the police car she was usually assigned, giving it a quick once-over before getting in and settling into the driver's seat. She then buckled her seatbelt before opening her purse's secret back pouch, which contained some carefully preserved notes in the date order that she'd received them. She opened the very first one that she'd gotten, touching it to her chest for a moment before untucking the envelope, extracting the note inside and reading it all over again even though she'd long ago committed it to memory.

Satou-san,

I hope that this note gets to you as soon as you check your mail. I know what you're probably seeing and hearing on the TV and at work over the last few days. Don't let any of it fool you.

She had felt hollow, absolutely dead inside, when the announcement had been made at the police station that one of thier own had died in the line of duty. That was mostly because she had already noticed Takagi's very conspicuous absence during thier usual morning roll call. Satou had even wondered if it was the universe's way of saying that she simply wasn't meant to have a relationship, especially in light of what had also happened to her first object of romantic affection. For the entire week leading up to the funeral and even during the funeral she'd felt like a robot running on autopilot, feeling but not really feeling, thinking but not really thinking. Until she'd finally gathered herself together enough to check her mail...

I'm still alive.

Satou still remembered how her heart had leapt in her chest when she'd initially studied one of the strange white envelopes with no return address or stamp on it sitting amongst her mail. The first time she'd gotten one, Satou had just gotten home from attending Takagi's closed-casket funeral a week after his death, and she had decided to try going through the motions of life in an attempt to take her mind off things. The moment that she'd glanced at her name on the envelope, Satou had recognized Takagi's handwriting since she was so used to looking over his notes when the two of them compared information during a case. She had thought that her eyes and heart were playing tricks on her until she saw the rest of the note was in his handwriting as well- and Takagi had also enclosed a newspaper clipping dated two days after he was supposed to have perished.

I'm very sorry that I haven't written sooner to let you know that I'm alright, but I've just finished recovering from a very bad illness. In fact, I just got out of the hospital today. I hope you'll forgive me.

She wondered quite a bit just what that 'illness' had been, and she was also curious if there was a connection between that illness and the other detective's death. The coroners had quite literally been unable to establish any sort of cause of death for the deceased Ikeda Akihiro, from what she'd managed to learn. Takagi Wataru's corpse was supposed to have been burned beyond recognition and unable to be autopsied beyond identifying him through his dental work, but of course Satou now knew that that was just a cover story. She was still trying to figure out just what had happened in her free time, and Satou had some definite ideas about who to talk to next.

If you're wondering why I haven't actually called you like I wanted to, it's because I've decided that it's probably best for me to hide out for a while. I want to let the men that tried to kill me along with Ikeda-keiji keep thinking that they succeeded in killing us both so they won't come after me or anyone else that's close to me. I'm even letting the lease on my apartment in town lapse and moving someplace else just in case...

I've enclosed a newspaper clipping as well- once you study it, I'm sure you'll know why I enclosed it.

The biggest favor I can ask of you is to keep pretending like I'm dead, at least if anyone asks about me or brings me up.

He hadn't given her an address or a phone number, of course, but he had given her a PO box under an assumed name that she could use to write to him if she wanted. After Satou had immediately replied and they'd started thier correspondence she'd hunted high and low in the greater Tokyo prefecture for any apartments that were rented under the name 'Nakashima Kiyoshi,' but the three men she'd found so far didn't seem to be panning out. One was way too short and fat to be her Takagi, the second was a total drunkard who was much too old and worn-looking even if it was makeup, and the last one had been living in the same apartment for going on ten years. She really wished she could catch Takagi in the act of delivering his unaddressed replies into her mail slot, but they always seemed to come while she was at work. Part of her suspected that that was because some of her coworkers were feeding Takagi information on her shift schedule. Well, OK - two of her coworkers in particular.

She waited for Chiba, who'd been parked in front of her, to pull out, then carefully pulled out as she used her rearview mirror to watch his car drive off in the opposite direction. Chiba-kun, if anyone knows what really happened or where he is right now, it's got to be either you or Megure-keibu. Maybe the both of you, actually...I know that you two were the first on the scene that night at the docks, after all. Her suspicions on this were doubled in her mind by the fact that Megure-keibu apparently still hadn't put in the proper paperwork to take Takagi off the payroll books yet. Why the delay unless he had a good reason for it?

All she knew for certain was that Takagi had been assigned along with the other detective as part of an intradepartmental task force that was working to try and take down a huge smuggling ring. Well, that and the fact that something had obviously gone horribly awry during the bust that Takagi and Ikeda were supposed to have executed that evening.

Yeah, Satou-san, we pulled up and the whole building was totally engulfed in flames! We could barely get Ikeda-keiji out and he was already dead, probably from the smoke.

She'd picked up on Chiba's nervousness as he'd told his version of events.

Look Satou-san, I know you really want to know what happened that night and I understand it, believe me. But everything, all of it, is in the report...

Satou shook her head. No, Megure-keibu, not all of it is in the report at all, or Takagi-kun wouldn't be writing to me...and I intend to get answers.

"Hey Takenaka-san! You're heading to lunch, right? Wait up for me, please!"

Takagi turned around to see a girl he recognized as one of his new classmates come bounding up to him with a cheery smile. "I'm Nakamori Aoko, one of your new classmates. I wanted to eat lunch with you and apologize for Bakaito's behavior earlier."

Well, maybe it won't be a bad idea for me to try and spend time with my new classmates...try to blend in even more. Takagi cocked an eyebrow and turned to walk alongside Aoko with a smile, offering a somewhat puzzled "Bakaito?" in reply.

"Oh, that's right, you don't know that mickname yet," Aoko laughed with a smile. "Kaito- Kuroba Kaito. That idiot Bakaito," she continued as she waved her hand at Takagi. "He's the one that left the whoopee cushion on your chair this morning. That kind of stuff is par for the course for him." She sighed and rolled her eyes as they located a table before sitting across from each other. "I just wanted to apologize because he's my friend, even if he is an idiot sometimes."

"He didn't look when he sat down. That's not my problem, like I said in class earlier." The very boy Aoko had been discussing plunked down next to Takagi, eyeing him up and down quickly out of the corner of his unusually intelligent dark blue eyes. "You're the new guy that just started in our class today, right?" He then turned to Aoko and stuck his tongue out at her. "Why are you pestering the new guy already, huh? He's probably got enough to worry about already."

"I was apologizing for your prank earlier, Bakaito," replied Aoko in an exasperated tone as she flung what looked like a ketchup packet right square at Kaito's chest. She then wagged a reproachful finger at her friend. "Because we both know that you never will."

The other boy shrugged as he pulled out a small lunch box and plucked out a piece of sushi. "Hey, we both know I've done way worse than that. He could have started with us the day that I brought that skunk to class during the middle of chemistry." A rougish grin crossed Kaito's face. "Took twenty minutes for sensei to realize it wasn't the sufuric acid we were using in the lab."

"It really took that long for anyone to notice the skunk?" Takagi was geniunely baffled. That kind of animal is very hard to miss...

"Well Kaito was hiding the skunk in his backpack, Takenaka-san," replied Aoko with a rueful grin and shake of her head. "It took a while for sensei to track the smell to his bag because the whole room smelled like rotten eggs."

"And then it sprayed him when sensei opened the bag, which was the best part of all." Kaito slapped his knee, laughing loudly. "That one was so worth the two weeks of chalkboard cleaning."

"So you must like pranks, then?" Takagi made a mental note to start keeping a much sharper eye out when he was around the other boy if that was the case.

"Correction, Takenaka-san. Kuroba doesn't just like pranks, he lives them. Much to the irritation of our class at times, I might add." A somewhat imperious, slightly accented voice came from over Takagi's shoulder. A tall blonde, golden-eyed boy then got up from his seat and walked over to their table, offering Takagi a polite half-bow. I know I've seen him before...Takagi could feel the wheels in his head churning, trying to place the boy. "I came back from England this morning and only cleared customs a bit ago, so I missed your introduction to the class. But it sounds like you have the seat directly behind mine." The boy stuck out his hand for a handshake. "The name is Hakuba- Hakuba Saguru." He then flicked his gaze to Kaito after they finished shaking hands for a moment before refocusing his attention on Takagi. "Since your desk is right by mine, you'll probably be in Kuroba's general line of fire more than most, just as a fair warning. Kuroba is possessed of no great fondness towards me."

"Because you don't know how to relax and have fun," replied Kaito evenly as he finished his lunch before quickly standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's a little too much stuffed shirt close by for my comfort."

Saguru settled into the seat Kaito had just vacated. He looked up at Takagi, studying him cooly before he offered a half-smile. "A few words of advice, Takenaka-san. Bring an umbrella, extra pair of shoes and extra lunch every day, even if you don't think you'll need any of those things. With Kuroba in our classroom, at some point you may wind up needing all three."

"Kaito's not that bad, Saguru-kun," laughed Aoko before she looked up at the ceiling, apparently thinking on it. "Or maybe...Hmm, yeah I guess he is that bad at times, isn't he?"