And here's Chapter 5! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far ^_^ I'm excited for this chapter because I just HAD to include the old man from file 945-947, or episode 849-850. XD Even though some people may find him annoying or view him as an unnecessary obstacle for Yumi and Chukichi's relationship, I REALLY loved him as a character XD He had good intentions. He just wanted to make sure Yumi was taking things seriously and was worthy of being Shukichi's waifu. XD Plus, in fairness, Yumi did throw away the envelope, so in a way you can't totally be mad at the old man lol.
Anyways, poor Yumi, how is she going to handle this day? XD
Before Yumi knew it, daylight was shining through her bedroom curtain, and she was lying in a puddle of drool still sitting at her desk. She softly opened her eyes and once realization hit, she jolted up from her chair.
"Ah! Shit! What time is it?" Yumi yelled as she grabbed her alarm clock next to her bed. It read 8:43AM.
"Damn it, I don't have much time!" Yumi quickly began getting dressed in her work uniform and ran out the door without putting much care into her physical appearance or even grabbing anything to eat. As she started running out her room while still buttoning up her blazer, a voice ominously called out to her from behind the corner.
"Hmph, there you are, ChaCha.."
Yumi stopped in her tracks and turned to see the source of the voice. It was her pesky landlord and former pit pocket, Koroku Hachitsuka.
"Oh, it's you." Yumi muttered irritably while placing her hands on her hips. "I told you a thousand times to stop calling me that! Ugh whatever, I'm going to be late for work, I can't bother with you now!-"
"So, you finally found out the truth about Master Haneda, huh? Sure took you long enough considering you're his 'girlfriend'. Pathetic." Koroku scoffed.
"! H-how did you know about that?" Yumi anxiously asked while approaching closer to the old man now intrigued by what he had to say.
"Heh. You think I was born yesterday? I saw you two together last night. I even stopped Master Haneda before he left to say a few things. I wouldn't want him having any regrets." Koroku grinned devilishly.
"Regrets? What the hell are you talking about?" Yumi yelled demandingly now practically cornering Koroku to the wall.
"What do you think I mean, ChaCha? I think It's pretty clear what I'm talking about. I don't want him to regret wasting all his efforts on someone who doesn't even want or deserve it."
Yumi took a step back. Koroku clearly struck a sensitive chord with that statement. She looked down and remembered that fangirl page that also said she didn't deserve Shukichi. Was it true? She didn't know what to think at this point.
"Tsk,…W-what do you care anyway, it's not your business! It's only his business and mine!" Yumi defensively shouted.
"He told me you knew everything about his shogi profession now, and that he'd wait for your response when he finally gets the seventh title. But are you really that determined to continue waiting for him, ChaCha? Even if It took him another year or two to collect his seven? Would you really want to spend the rest of your life with Master Haneda? Or do you only view him as an uncaring ex-boyfriend that isn't worth a moment of your time? You must decide now before you break his heart and waste his efforts. You must reach deep inside yourself and figure out your feelings now. I already know how determined he is to be with you, now prove how determined you are to be with him."
Yumi's eyes widened and she found herself stumbling on her words. "My response? ..Spend the rest of my life with him? I-…prove myself-…What the hell are you!-"
"Hmph. Now go, ChaCha. I've said what needed to be said. As a matter of fact, I've probably said too much. Just think about it." Koroku said as he began walking away leaving Yumi completely stunned and bewildered.
She stood for a moment before shaking her head and coming back to her senses. "Ugh, whatever I can't think about this right now, I have to hurry and get to work!"
Yumi raced up the stairs to HQ and stopped by the water cooler to catch her breath. She glanced at her watch. "9:08. Shit, I'm super late.." She thought while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Yumi-san! Ah, there you are! I thought you wouldn't show up! You look so tired is everything okay?" Naeko said with concern as she approached the visibly exhausted policewoman.
"Ah, hey Naeko..yeah I'm okay, I just had a really late night.. I'll be fine though!" Yumi forced a fake smile and thumbs up while trying her best to sound believable.
"Oh I see." Naeko said not looking too convinced. "Well if it'd help you out, I can drive today if you want?" Naeko offered politely. "You know, since today we're partners again!"
"Sure, that would be nice." Yumi said feeling genuinely relieved she wouldn't be alone today.
Yumi and Naeko began heading down to the garage where the mini patrol car was located before being stopped by a voice.
"Yumi-kun! May I have a word?" Inspector Megure yelled sternly from across the room with an intimidating furrowed brow.
"O-of course!" Yumi uttered uneasily while internally panicking. "Uh oh, I'm screwed.."
Naeko looked like she wanted to follow but was too scared to try. The inspector seemed really serious.
Yumi put a hand on Naeko's shoulder. "Just, head down without me! I'll catch up with you, okay?" Yumi winked with a semi defeated smile.
"S-sure!" Naeko smiled back.
Yumi felt her knees buckle and her lips quiver as she followed the inspector to his office. She'd never been late to work once in all the 5 years she'd worked as an officer for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Maybe the inspector would go easy on her and give her a warning just this once. Still, Yumi put a hand to her chest and felt her heart race. She was so scared for what he might say.
As they entered his office, Megure motioned Yumi to sit in the chair opposite his desk. Yumi sat down trying to keep her composure.
The inspector folded his hands and coughed before speaking, his anger seemed to subside. "Yumi-kun, is everything okay with you? You seem a bit off lately. I'm just wondering if you're in the right mental state these days."
Yumi perked up by his question and felt a bit of the anxiety go down. So, she wasn't in trouble? Was this really all he wanted?
"Oh, um. Yeah, I'm fine. What makes you say that, keibu?" Yumi said perplexed.
"Well, yesterday the reports you handed in weren't really written the way you normally write them. It's almost like you had a lot of aggression built up or something. Not to mention, you look completely terrible today, like you're running on little sleep and only had 10 minutes to get ready this morning."
Yumi chuckled spitefully to herself. "Geez, no need to hit so close to home..." "Ah, yeah I suppose I had a late night last night, I'm really sorry about that." Yumi yawned while trying to appear attentive.
"Are you going to be okay patrolling today? It's just, you're one of my best traffic cops, so I'm willing to cut you some slack today. Do you need to take a personal day if it's going to affect your work performance? You've never been late to work before, and I'm just concerned about you."
Yumi stood up raising her hands defensively. "Oh, no there's really no need for that, keibu! I really am sorry for being late today. I'll make sure it never happens again! I'll try to get my personal matters sorted out, but I don't need a personal day, really it's fine!" Yumi tried her best to fix the situation since she really didn't want any special treatment. In fact, being at work was at least a good distraction for her. It sure beat going home and letting the whole Shukichi drama consume her any more than it already had.
"Well, if you're sure you're okay. Alright, make me proud, Yumi-kun!" The inspector patted Yumi on the back as she left his office.
"T-thank you, Megure-keibu." Yumi smiled weakly with relief.
As Yumi began heading back down to the garage to meet back up with Naeko, she mentally punished herself. "Keep it together, Yumi-sama…Stop causing such a scene because of everything with Chukichi... We'll just deal with him later…I need to be determined only on work right now-"
"I already know how determined he is to be with you, now prove how determined you are to be with him."
"EH!" Yumi slapped a hand over her mouth to silence herself as the words from Koroku echoed in her mind. She continued trudging to the patrol car. "Damn it, I really need to stop letting this- AHH!" Yumi screamed from surprise as Naeko was now giving her a concerned look from only a few inch distance from her face.
"Who are you talking to?"
"Geez! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" Yumi shouted without answering the question while clenching her chest still trying to shake off the scare.
"Sorry, it's just, your 'EH!' made me worry something happened to you."
"Oh, i-I see.." Yumi said calmly "Sorry to worry you, everything is fine. Let's just go now!" Yumi entered the passenger side of the patrol car persistently as if not wanting to discuss things any further.
Naeko tilted her head curiously while trying to read what was going through Yumi's mind today. She wanted to believe she knew her senior partner fairly well despite them only working together for about two months now. After all, they'd already gone out for karaoke a few times with some other members from their division, but clearly there was a lot more to Yumi than she thought.
Naeko sighed with a smile and decided to let it go before getting behind the wheel. "Alright, if you say so, Yumi-san."
There was a great deal of stillness between the two policewomen while driving around the streets of Tokyo as they waited for crimes to handle. Since nothing was coming through the patrol car's radio, Naeko began observing her surroundings to see if she could spot anything that seemed suspicious. Sometimes days like this where there wasn't much going on were nice, but it also really made things boring. Suddenly, Naeko was abruptly disrupted from her observations by a loud snore coming from Yumi. She glanced over at her exhausted partner who had begun to doze off.
"Yumi-san, you really shouldn't sleep while we're patrolling, you know." Naeko said in a calm yet authoritative voice.
Yumi yawned loudly and began rubbing her eyes. "Ahhh,….sorry, sorry. Has anything happened yet?"
"No..I've been looking, but nothing yet." Naeko said disappointedly.
Yumi watched her partner's efforts and felt bad she wasn't trying as hard as Naeko was, so she began looking out the window for crimes as well since it was her job after all. There was almost an awkward silence between them for a while. Yumi was sure Naeko had a lot of questions regarding what happened last night, but was too nervous to ask for fear of prying into her personal life too much. Yumi decided to turn the tables for a bit to sort of attract the attention off herself.
"Hey, you don't have to answer but, what ended up happening with you and Chiba-kun the other day?" Yumi asked almost out of nowhere in an attempt at easing the tense atmosphere.
"EHH?!" Naeko shrieked with a flustered blush consuming her face. Looks like this may have had the opposite effect than she'd hoped.
Yumi knew how incredibly shy Naeko got when it came to her feelings for Chiba, but she was hoping getting Naeko to confide in her would help her feel more comfortable with her feelings and opening up. After all, Yumi was the best at being both a matchmaker and a tease with these kinds of things. In this case, she definitely wanted to help her partner as best as she could, even if for right now it was more to distract herself from her own situation.
"I..um. Yesterday, I hid before he could catch up with me..I was so embarrassed I just couldn't face him. I didn't think he'd try to chase after me, so I just panicked." Naeko said with a distressed expression. "Why did he chase me anyways, did one of you tell him to do that? He usually never even gives me a passing glance."
Yumi's eye twitched nervously. "N-no, we didn't say anything! He asked us why you ran and if it was something he said, and we told him to ask you for himself, so technically we didn't force him to chase after you." Yumi awkwardly rubbed her neck while chuckling which probably made her look guilty even though theoretically she wasn't lying.
"Oh, I see. Agh, I just feel so terrible! I haven't faced him since then, so I don't know if he's going to even remember or if he's ever going to try confronting me about it again..What would you do in my situation, Yumi-san?" Naeko said with pleading eyes.
Yumi gulped hesitantly unsure of what response to give seeing as she wasn't exactly the best person to ask for advice given what she herself was currently going through. She thought for a moment as she tried to put herself in Naeko's shoes.
"Well, y-you know you like him, right?" Yumi asked almost stupidly since she already knew the answer.
Naeko nodded in embarrassment, her face still flushed.
"Well then, I..I think you should just talk to him.. He's never going to know you're the girl he liked back in your school days until you say somethin-"
"BUT I WANT HIM TO REMEMBER FOR HIMSELF!" Naeko shouted while Yumi stared at her mystified by her sudden raise of tone. "I… I mean, if he really still likes me like he said he did all those years ago, certainly he should know who I am by now...Plus, just talking to him is a lot easier said than done. I get so shy and stupid around him, so I can't blame him for not recognizing me.." Naeko sheepishly muttered while sinking in her seat sadly.
Yumi put a comforting hand on Naeko's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. I'm sure he'll figure it out for himself soon enough. He may just be coming to terms with it himself. Like maybe subconsciously he suspects you are the girl from his memories, but he needs more proof before realizing it's you for sure. Besides, the two of you hardly see each other at work since we're in different departments. I mean, he doesn't even know your name. Chiba-kun can be a real dummy, but he really does have a good heart. Just keep waiting, I'm sure something good will come for you two eventually." Yumi smiled not realizing how close to home her last statement was.
Naeko smiled reassured by Yumi's words. "I know you're right, Yumi-san. I appreciate you giving me your support. You know, you can be really passionate and caring when you want to be." she added with a wink.
"Heh, what's that supposed to mean? That I'm not usually caring?" Yumi chuckled.
"Well, no you are! I just meant you're really good with romance and bringing people together. Sato-san told me a lot about how you schemed around for her and Takagi-san before they officially became a couple." She beamed as she praised Yumi.
Yumi's face fell. "Eh.. I'm not really as good with romance as I've made you think. I just like giving other's a friendly push when they need it and trust me; Miwako and Takagi-kun really needed it a lot back then. Sometimes it can be really annoying to watch people make things complicated for themselves, even though I have no right to talk on that.." Yumi said without thinking.
"What do you mean by that, Yumi-san?" Naeko asked now intrigued.
Yumi looked at Naeko's intent expression and knew she painted herself in a corner. She couldn't come back from that statement. She knew Naeko would want to know even though she wanted so desperately to distract herself from it till she got off work. Well, since they were opening up, maybe it would help to get a third party opinion. She sighed for a moment and cleared her throat.
"Well, erm. I had a boyfriend once before, but he always- well I guess we both mutually made things complicated for ourselves. In fact, he's the reason I've been a bit off today. It's kind of a long story and I don't want to bother you with it so-"
"Yumi-san." Naeko interjected. "You're not a bother to me. I understand if you don't want to tell me all of it, but with how slow things are today, you can talk to me. It might actually help you. Besides, we're partners! And I'm a good listener." Naeko smiled compassionately.
Yumi smiled halfheartedly. "Alright, well buckle up then, cause this is kind of a long ride."
...
"EEEHHHH! YOUR BOYFRIEND IS TAIKO-MEIJIN!?""" Naeko shouted so loudly Yumi was pretty sure all of Tokyo could hear her.
"Shh, not so loud!" Yumi put a hand on Naeko's mouth to silence her while they were halted at a traffic light and gaining some attention from nearby bystanders. "But, yeah…" Yumi nodded nonchalantly as she finally finished telling the whole story. "To be honest, I didn't even know who that was until I googled it." Yumi added honestly while twiddling her fingers embarrassedly.
"Wait so let me get this straight, you dated Taiko-Meijin….for several years..and had no idea he was famous?!"
"Turns out." Yumi said with a wry smile.
"So, what are you going to do, Yumi-san?! It sounds like he wants to marry you!" Naeko blushed encouragingly.
"Eh? 'Marry me'? Hah that might be a bit much." Yumi laughed while waving her hand dismissively at Naeko's comment.
"I mean, what else could be in that envelope then? If he wants you to wait for him till he gets the seventh title, what else could he have to say to you once he confronts you with all of them? He'd probably propose to you right then and there! That would be so romantic!" Naeko said with dreamy eyes.
All of a sudden, the facts were beginning to hit Yumi like a ton of bricks. That explanation actually made so much sense. She'd never really thought of what the envelope could contain since she just planned on ripping it in front of his face one of these days, but truly what else could it be? She began reminiscing some of the things said to her to see if any of it hinted towards marriage.
...
"You said whoever Tehno's future bride is would feel like such a queen being with a champion like him, so I made it my goal to make you feel the same."
"Now that you know the truth about my shogi profession and the seven titles I'm trying to collect, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what the envelope might contain."
"Even if It took him another year or two to collect his seven? Would you really want to spend the rest of your life with Master Haneda?"
…..
"OH MY GOD CHUKICHI WANTS TO MARRY ME." Yumi exclaimed as if this was the first time that revelation ever entered her mind.
Naeko clasped her hands together excitedly. "Oh, Yumi-san, this is wonderful!"
"B-but..I don't know! If he's famous maybe there's plenty of other girls on his radar, m-maybe I should just bail now and take that personal day the inspector offered me after all-I need to go home, open the envelope, confront Chukichi and then-!"
"Yumi-san, you're being hysterical you can't do that now!" Naeko grabbed Yumi's arm stopping her from exiting the car. "You need to calm down for a minute. Do you really think he'd have other girls after everything you just told me? He really seems devoted to you and only you."
Yumi blushed. "I..I guess so."
"So, what are you going to do? Are you going to tell him you figured it all out, or are you just going to wait till he proposes to you first?" Naeko asked with a cheeky grin.
"I really don't know! I don't want to rush things, especially since I only just found this all out yesterday. Plus, now that I know he's rich and famous I don't want him to think I only want to get back together for that reason." Yumi looked down with a guilt-ridden face.
"Well you dated him for all those years not knowing he was rich and famous, so surely he knows you wouldn't be so shallow." Naeko smiled assuredly.
"Yeah…well maybe I'll try to schedule a meet up with him so we can talk more about things. I just have a lot to think about, so I may just take my time." Yumi said in a semi distracted voice.
"If that's what you think is for the best." Naeko smiled. "Well, Yumi-san, it looks like we both just have to wait on our men to hurry up already!" Naeko laughed while playfully elbowing Yumi.
"Hehe, yeah." Yumi said with yet another forced smile while her mind wandered again.
"If it's true that Chukichi wants to marry me, should we..get back together? Do I want that right now? Would it seem too much like I'm getting back with him for selfish reasons? Gahhh god dammit, Yumi-sama..Why can't you just make things simple for yourself."
Hehe okay that's the end of this one! XD Hope you enjoyed it! Also, hope you Chiba x Naeko shippers out there are happy with the little development I tried including for them. In all seriousness I do lowkey ship them despite being way deeper into Yumi x Shukichi and Takagi x Sato. XD Especially after file 1017, I am genuinely excited to see what's in store for them! ^_^
Ratings definitely give me motivation to continue! Also, any feedback on what I can improve on is welcome! Thank you!
