Alright here's chapter 2! I think it should be mentioned one more time that this is my take on Yumi and Shukichi's reunion even though certain elements are true to canon events. The motivation for this story was based on episode 427 when Yumi first mentioned Shukichi, albeit indirectly XD I really wanted this story to be focused on Yumi acting all standoffish and hiding from him like she did in that episode I mentioned. I mean she literally bought a face mask and wore it to hide so he wouldn't recognize her lmao. I love Yumi so much lol.
Later that evening, Yumi returned to HQ and finishing filing her reports for the day and was headed to the break room where Sato, Takagi, Naeko, and Shiratori were all laughing and enjoying themselves.
"Ah, Yumi-san, you're finally done huh? How did it go being solo today?" Naeko politely asked while offering her a coffee.
Yumi sighed but decided not to let her emotions show too much. "It was alright, I kind of wish you could've been with me though." She said with a soft smile while accepting the coffee.
"I know I'm sorry, Yumi-san, I was so bored around the office. I wish I could've been with you too, but I had a lot of paperwork and reports to catch up on. Did anything interesting happen?" Naeko asked curiously.
Yumi sipped her coffee and felt a trickle of sweat fall from the side of her face as she replayed the whole run in with her ex-boyfriend back in her head. She really didn't want to get everyone invested in her drama, so she decided to play it cool.
"Eh, no not really. I just had to deal with some annoying pest earlier." Yumi said rather coldly.
"Oh, really? I'm sorry to hear that, Yumi-san. Well, hopefully tomorrow we can go back to being partners and have a better day." Naeko added with an encouraging smile. "And think of it this way, you'll probably never have to see that pest again."
Yumi forced a nervous smile. "Y-yeah.."
All of a sudden, Chiba entered the room, which caused Naeko to bolt behind Yumi and hide anxiously.
"Hey guys! How about that case huh? I still can't believe that woman who killed that man was actually secretly in love with him the whole time. I was so sure she was innocen-" he cut himself off and turned his attention to Yumi.
"Ah, Yumi-san! You're back! How did the solo patrolling go?" He said cheerfully while remaining completely oblivious to Naeko's presence behind her.
Yumi stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. "Um..It was fine, I guess." She said apathetically. She turned and looked at Naeko who was clinging to her desperately.
"Well that's good." He smiled and made his way over to Takagi, Sato, and Shiratori. "So what about you guys? What are your plans after work?"
Naeko lowered her hat and stormed out of the room trying to hide the fact she was clearly distressed by his sudden appearance and lack of concern or care for her.
The sound of the door slamming got Chiba's attention.
"W-who was that? Was it something I said?" he asked completely obliviously.
Yumi crossed her arms and sighed with annoyance. "Tsk, why don't you go catch up with her and ask her yourself, you dunce."
From the body language and tone in Yumi's voice, Chiba suddenly became overwhelmed with guilt and felt obligated to take her advice.
"R-right." And with that he left to look for the girl he unintentionally had been ignoring and emotionally hurting for months now.
The room grew quiet for a moment after Yumi's intervention before everyone gathered around her.
"Geez, he still hasn't realized?" Sato chimed in.
"Nope, it would appear not. If I were her I'd just give up and move on. There have to be better fish in the sea out there." Yumi said with her arms still crossed.
Takagi interjected, "Well, Chiba is just a bit slow with romance. I'm sure he'll come to the realization soon, he just lacks confidence and doesn't think he stands a chance with anyone." He said scratching his neck nervously trying not to talk badly about his friend behind his back.
Shiratori looked deep in thought before finally breaking his silence. "I know how it feels to be a complete fool in romance. Looking back to the days where I thought Sato-san was my girl of destiny because she resembled Kobayashi-sensei makes me feel so guilty. Unlike Chiba-kun who can't recognize his love from childhood, I had my childhood love mixed with someone else and spent time perusing the wrong woman while selfishly disregarding her feeling for Takagi-kun."
Takagi and Sato looked at each other and then back at Shiratori somewhat awkwardly hoping not to reopen old wounds.
Shiratori smiled and put his hand on Takagi's shoulder. "Don't worry, you know those days are long over. You and Sato-san are a perfect pair, I'm genuinely happy for you two."
Takagi smiled admirably. "Thank you, Shiratori-san."
Yumi watched as these events were unfolding and felt nostalgic. She couldn't help but miss the days of klutzy bumbling Takagi who couldn't get Sato to notice him romantically no matter how hard he tried, and her own manipulative schemes that more often than not were meant as pranks to keep him from progressing with her. Sometimes she did try to give them a nice friendly push, but usually it would backfire. Shiratori on the other hand was someone who she also used for her own personal gain sometimes.
As she reminisced, she felt a sad smile creep on her face. "I'm so immature. They've all grown and earned happiness, and I'm just living in the past and remaining the same old tease.. No wonder I'm so bitter.."
"Hey, Yumi?"
Yumi was interrupted from her thoughts as she realized the room had cleared out except Sato who was now looking at her with slight concern.
"Ah, w-what is it, Miwako?" she asked dazed not realizing she had zoned out for a few minutes.
"Weren't you listening? We're inviting you to dinner with us! It'll be me, Takagi-kun, Shiratori-kun, and Kobayashi-sensei! You in?"
Yumi paused with hesitation. "So, it's a couple's thing?"
Sato smiled hoping to convince her. "Well, technically I suppose you could call it that, but that's okay! You're still welcome to join us!"
"Thanks, but I'll pass. I've got other things to do tonight." Yumi lied again trying to hide the emotions she'd been consumed by.
"Well okay suit yourself. Ah, but hey Yumi?" Sato asked just as Yumi was about to leave the room.
"What?" Yumi turned and asked.
"If you ever want to do another singles party, Takagi-kun and I can go to be your wingmen to help you out!" Sato said with a somewhat nervous smile already knowing Yumi would likely decline the offer.
Yumi chuckled with a stern expression. "Ha ha, yeah right Miwako, I'm not that desperate. Besides, I only went last time to get drunk. I don't need a boyfriend right now. There's a reason I haven't moved on from my last one."
Sato's eyebrow raised confused by Yumi's wording. "You haven't moved on from your last one?"
Yumi blushed defensively. "What? No no, I meant there's a reason I haven't had a boyfriend since my last one because he made me not want to deal with relationships! Besides, if I really wanted I could've moved on a long time ago, I just choose not to! Yumi exclaimed in an extremely flustered state almost making her case worse.
Sato stood with wide eyes taken aback by Yumi's sudden defensive attitude, but smiled at her friend reassuringly. "O-oh okay, sorry I misunderstood Yumi. Well have a good night with whatever you have going on tonight then." Sato playful nudged Yumi as she exited the room.
"Y-yeah. You too." Yumi said blankly as she was oddly mesmerized watching Sato regroup with Takagi and Shiratori as they were happily chatting about their dinner plans.
"Geez…" Yumi uttered softly.
Yumi parked her car and made her way up the stairs to her apartment. It had just been one of those days she wanted to forget, but for some reason she was still internally struggling with jealousy due to Takagi and Sato's dinner date plans with Shiratori and Kobayashi, but more importantly, she couldn't stop thinking about her encounter with Shukichi earlier.
"Hmph, I don't need to think about him anymore, I only ran into him by coincidence, I was just doing my job. Besides, it's not like he's tried to contact me once since we broke up, so I don't know why he acted like he cared.." Yumi pouted angrily as she continued up the stairs while fumbling in her purse looking for the keys to her apartment.
As Yumi rounded the corner that led to her room, she only had a moment to react before letting out a startled scream and falling to the ground as none other than Shukichi Haneda was standing right there by her door waiting for her.
"Ah, s-sorry, Yumi-tan! I didn't mean to surprise you like that!" Shukichi said apologetically while offering her his hand to help her up.
Yumi rejected his offer and slapped his hand away. "Psh, yeah right you didn't mean to surprise me, you came to my place uninvited, what did you expect?" She said in an irritated tone while getting up and brushing herself off. "Geez, how long were you waiting here anyways?"
Shukichi looked at his watch. "Only 3 minutes and 12 seconds. As memory serves, you always come home at precisely 9:18 PM on Thursdays, so I wanted to beat you to it." He said with a somewhat flirty smirk.
Yumi crossed her arms and chuckled in a somewhat amused yet irritated way. "Wow, that's really creepy, Chukichi. But I gotta say I'm surprised you actually were willing to wait for me for once. Hope I didn't take up too much of your precious time."
Shukichi took note of her stubbornly unpleasant demeanor and knew he couldn't exactly blame her for reacting the way she had all these years. He was starting to realize he needed to be much more straightforward and open with her if they were ever going to patch their relationship and move forward into the future.
"Anyways more importantly, what the heck are you doing here?" Yumi asked straight to the point.
Shukichi again brushed off Yumi's impatient attitude and continued. "There are several things I really need to talk to you about, so I was hoping you would accompany me to Ramen Ogura to discuss matters further. Of course, I'll be treating." He added knowing that was all he had to say to convince her.
Yumi stared at Shukichi still bothered by his unexpected visit, but all the while she was overcome now with a certain level of intrigue wondering what he had to say.
"Fine, you're just lucky I'm starving. Give me a minute to change." She said while unlocking the door to her apartment and leaving Shukichi waiting for her outside.
After a few minutes, Yumi stepped back out wearing casual clothes. She didn't want to overdo it since she wasn't exactly trying to impress her ex-boyfriend.
Nonetheless, it was still enough to attract Shukichi's attention as he blushed and smiled sincerely. "You look really beautiful, Yumi-tan."
Yumi unknowingly blushed at his compliment but tried to hide it once she felt it written all over her face. "Ah, whatever it's nothing special." She began strutting ahead of him so he couldn't see. "Let's just go."
Oh snap what's Chukichi up to? Hehe sorry I had to end it on a cliffhanger like that XD
As always, reviews are appreciated! ^^
