Tease

Adachi spent a lot of time pondering the dilemma. At first, the idea of seducing Yua had seemed so easy, but the more he deliberated, the more issues seemed to pop up. There were so many risk factors:

First, his reputation, job, and possibly even his freedom were on the line. If anyone suspected that he was in an illicit relationship with a minor, he would immediately be fired. That was the best-case scenario. However, it would likely bring a heavy amount of suspicion. He wouldn't put it past someone—probably Shirogane—to look into where he was when the victims of the serial murderer disappeared. At the very least, his ignorant façade would be shattered, inviting more questions and maybe even a little jail time.

Second, women were flighty, unpredictable, and seemingly incapable of taking a direct advance. And, more annoyingly, they all seemed to be loose in one way or another but also confused when a man pointed that out. Yua was probably the same, meaning that she was likely to do something erratic and stupid or even reject him despite her feelings.

Third, in some part of his mind, a spot he didn't dwell on much, if at all, Adachi knew that he had not been particularly successful with his romantic endeavors outside of one or two memory-less drunken college one-night-stands. His last two attempts to establish something with a woman had ended in their deaths. That couldn't happen here. Along with everything that had deterred him before, he had the added understanding that Yua could be recording her feelings towards him in a diary or discussing her feelings with one of her friends. If anything happened to her, he would be immediately a suspect.

And the reward was… screwing with the Investigation Brats and their leader.

The risks outweighed the reward for any objective mind.

Adachi sighed. Doing anything with this information would be a dangerous hassle at this point. He could ignore it. He could pretend not to notice and torment her further. He could choose not to take advantage of this knowledge in any way that would provide her satisfaction. That would be logical, safe.

Unfortunately for him, his mind did not work that way.

Yua had stimulated his imagination. Once he noticed her more womanly aspects, he couldn't really go back. He found himself thinking about her, fantasizing in the same way he had about Yamano. It kept his thoughts preoccupied during the day, having a muse sitting on his desk and begging for his attention, and he wanted it to be more than just a teasing daydream. She wanted him. She felt flustered just being in his presence and grabbing his tie. He smiled; it would be so easy to do what he wanted with her.

It was a cute crush, the kind that most teenage girls had when they met someone of interest who was way beyond their years. Usually, this came in the form of a pop idol or a celebrity or a teacher or something, not her uncle's partner—not that he was complaining. He already had her coming over to his house; he already had her drooling over him; it wouldn't take too much convincing to get her to remove her skirt.

"Adachi!" He snapped up in his office chair as his grim-faced partner rounded the corner. "Have you finished your report on Kubo's arrest?"

"No, not yet!" His voice was a bit shrill, and he quickly shoved aside all thoughts of Dojima's niece. "I'll get on it."

Oh, fourth: he was thinking about his partner's niece. Dojima would kill Adachi if he even looked at his golden girl the wrong way.

Dojima sipped his bitter coffee as he watched Adachi sit up straight and scramble open a report document on the computer, "You look perfectly distracted. More than usual, anyway."

"Oh, it's nothing," Adachi dismissed quickly.

"I doubt it," Dojima grumbled, and Adachi knocked over a pen holder. "This isn't about a girl, is it?"

Adachi made the mistake of looking away.

"Hey, it is!" Dojima let out a hardy chuckle. "Like I need your head in the clouds any more than it already is."

"It's nothing," Adachi whined.

"Oh, so it's the longing phase. Have you even talked to her?"

Adachi wished that he could just be punched and be done with it. Physical violence was preferable to this nuclear psychological warfare, "No."

"So, you haven't said anything? Why not?"

Adachi could think of a thousand reasons relating to Dojima alone.

"Oh well," he twirled his hand several times before continuing. "There's just a lot of things."

"Like? I don't have to take you into the interrogation room, do I?" He teased. "She's out of your league, isn't she."

Adachi bit back a retort. Dammit! Why did Dojima care all of a sudden? Adachi decided to fabricate the perfect woman and why he couldn't date her.

"Well," the best lies had a bit of truth in them. "There's a real chance this could go very poorly for me. Also, I believe her father wouldn't approve of me."

"You're acting like a teenager. Who cares what he thinks?"

"Oh," Adachi blinked, stupefied. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean; he really shouldn't have any say in what she does. I understand that it's important to get along with her family. But you shouldn't let that keep you from pursuing someone important to you. My father-in-law especially saw me as nothing but a lowdown rural cop. He had a real problem with me smoking. Took me forever to gain his approval." He shrugged. "Sometimes, you just need to go for it."

"Really, you think so?" Adachi realized the humor of the situation. "I should take my chance and go after her?"

"Yeah, why not! It won't kill you."

A big grin spread across his face, "Well, if you say so! I guess it's worth a shot."

"Alright, good. Now, get your mind out of the clouds. I need you to do something for me."

Even with the paper overload, Adachi couldn't help his better mood for the rest of the day. The ignorant blessing was just another motivation. The irony was deliciously palpable.

Still, Adachi had to tread lightly if he didn't want to repeat history. He needed to set clear goals to achieve: one, disrupt the Investigation Team going forward. It was only a matter of time before Namatame threw another person in; distracting their leader could help. Goal two: he wanted to enact everything he had imagined with Yamano and Konishi onto Yua. Goal two couldn't overtake one, but it was just as important. The universe owed him something after disappointing him so thoroughly.

Adachi understood that he needed rules for himself to minimize risk. They built themselves after he established the first one: Yua could not die. It'd be too messy; Adachi couldn't guarantee that he could kill her without unforeseen consequences. Because she could not die, he could not force her into anything. Because he couldn't force her to do anything, he would have to deal with her in another way. Because he would have to find another, more appeasing route, he was going to have a headache. He realized that the safest path was the one that seemed the most tedious and least manly: she would have to initiate the relationship.

Since he couldn't use trial and error, he'd have to be careful. Move slowly to get her in the position he wanted, like a wolf stalking a rabbit. He just needed to set out the bait, and she'd come running to him.

Still in his thoughts, he didn't hear his boss return.

"Adachi, where the hell is your tie?"

"Sorry, sir!"

Yua was strolling down the shopping district. With Mitsuo behind bars and school being out for the summer break, she had more time on her hands. So, she decided to build up some money to buy Nanako a little present when she finished her summer homework. As she headed to the bus stop at the end of the district, she waved to people passing by. The town seemed so welcoming now that the murderer had been caught.

Eventually, on the journey, she passed a specific part of the district, and she paused for a moment before continuing. Seeing the spot awakened a memory. She unzipped her school bag, now filled with summer essentials, and stuck her hand in. After a second of brushing past the sunblock and beads (that really weren't useful in the real world), she found her fingers caressing the red tie.

Yua didn't know what to do with it. It had been a few days since she saw Adachi. She thought she should have just kept it in her bag, not messed with it, but she had to open up that compartment to take out her homework the other night. After seeing it in her bag and crumpled from being piled with everyone else's belongings on the inside of the TV, she decided that it wasn't ready to be returned to its owner. So, in the middle of the night, she took it into the bathroom and washed it off—erasing a stain off of the edge. After letting it dry, she snuck downstairs and used an old iron to straighten it.

Now, it was nice and clean and unwrinkled (and scented with some soap) and ready to be returned to its owner. Though she just hadn't yet. With the investigation wrapping up, summer starting, and her friend's schedules, she hadn't made time to return it properly. So, she often found herself walking down the street looking for Adachi slacking off at the gas station or Junes. No such luck. She felt like it was too forward to show up at his house. Though, she found her hand occasionally sliding into the bag to run her fingers over it and think about how glad he would be when she returned it.

That wasn't weird, right? It just made her happy.

"Hey, Yua-senpai!" Yua turned to see the friendly face of the local pop idol appear beside her suddenly.

"Oh, hey, Rise-chan! You surprised me."

Rise had become a surprisingly good friend to her. Yua wouldn't have thought that the pop-idol would be interested in being friends with her at first. Yua wasn't so used to having a—she didn't know how to put it—a "best friend" or at least someone who insisted on being best friends very soon after meeting. (There was Yosuke, but she always assumed that "partner" was a little more formal and mission-oriented than "best friend.") Right off the bat, Rise decided that they needed to be "Besties" because "every girl needs that special girl who can understand her." It wasn't like Yua didn't have good girl-friends. Of course, she had Chie and Yukiko, but they had their special bond and often went off on their own adventures. So, maybe she understood where Rise was coming from. Yua was a bit off-put by the insisted closeness but accepted the friendship (and social link) nonetheless.

"Whatcha got in the bag?" Rise asked.

Yua let go of the tie and zipped her bag closed in half a second.

"Nothing," she cleared her throat. "How is your day?"

"Good, but not anywhere as interesting as what you're trying to hide in your bag," she snickered. "Come on. Don't hide stuff from me. It's not nothing. You looked happy." She looked closer. "You've been very happy recently."

"I'm just glad the investigation is over, and we caught the killer," Yua waved it off.

"Yeah, that's not it. There's something different," Rise mumbled and examined her like a hardened detective.

"Different?" Yua asked. "No, not at all."

"Oh, ok, then you wouldn't mind me seeing what's in the bag, right?"

See the tie? Yua felt terrible about trying to hide something from her friend, but how would she explain carrying around a man's clothing item? She could lie and say it was her uncle's. If it was any other guy, Rise would definitely get the wrong idea. But then again, there was a fierce, curious look in her eye. No, Rise would understand. She was just overthinking this. She had the tie for completely innocent reasons; she should just tell her the truth.

"Someone dropped a piece of clothing on the street. I'm hoping to see that person soon so that I can return it."

"A piece of clothing?" Rise raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Oh," Yua realized how strange that sounded. "A, it was—" a tie was something that didn't come off easily, "A hat."

"A hat?" Rise mumbled. "Well, do you have their number? Maybe you could call. Or you could mail it to them."

Yua sighed. She hadn't called him for an admittedly selfish reason. She wanted to talk to him face to face, and if she called him, he might have just asked her to drop it off at the station or arrange for Dojima to take it to him. That wouldn't do. And yet, she just couldn't bring herself to visit his home. Thus, she had resigned to fate and happenstance to bring them together again.

"I guess I could, but I want to see him when I—it's not important enough."

"Well, I could keep an eye out and send him your way," Rise smiled. "What's his name?"

"Really, it's not that big of a deal. I'll bump into him sooner or later…" she looked over to see Rise's mischievous grin. "What? Why are you smiling like that?"

"You have it bad for someone!" Rise exclaimed.

"Shhhhhh," Yua hushed her as people passing by turned to look at them for a second.

"Oh, sorry," Rise leaned up closer to her. "You have a serious crush on someone, don't you. Don't hide it. I can tell."

It was useless. She sighed. "Ok, I guess I do—"

"Senpai! Who is it?"

"Well, I don't want to—"

"It's definitely Koa, right? I mean, who wouldn't? He's so cool! Or maybe Daisuke? He's strange but definitely attractive—I can see it. Or maybe that kid you hang around, Naoki—"

"No-no-no-no," Yua shook her head, trying to calm her down. She was getting loud again.

Rise did that herself and suddenly cringed, "It's not Moron-ji or Yosuke-senpai is it? Or—ew—Teddie."

"No."

The fire reignited in her eyes, "Then who is it?"

Yua almost opened her mouth but closed it quickly. She suddenly felt embarrassed about the crush. Adachi was a much older man, her uncle's partner, and not exactly the kind of guy you'd see on the cover of teen magazines. Outside looking in, it was a strange fit. Anyone who knew this without seeing the kind, considerate, goofy Adachi would assume that he's a peculiar choice. As much as she wanted to believe that Rise would understand the crush, she couldn't really rely on Rise keeping it secret.

"I don't want to say," Yua's expression sank.

"Oh, come on!" Rise whisper yelled. "Don't keep secrets from me!"

"It's not a big deal," Yua waved it off.

"It's love! Of course, it's a big deal!"

Yua shifted uncomfortably. Rise was digging in deep, and Yua wasn't sure how far she should let the idol go. Still, this was her friend. Rise might have been a bit over-eager at times (especially when it came to talking about boys), but she seemed like the type of person to know what to do in this situation.

Yua let out a resigned sigh, "I don't want to feel this way about him."

"Don't want to?"

"Well, I need to think about it. The crush is getting in the way of our friendship. I just can't keep my nerve when he's around, and I don't think we'll be more than friends. So, I should just leave it be."

"Whether or not it turns into something doesn't matter; you can't give up so easily! You need to embrace this—own it! You can make it a reality. You just gotta grab onto him and never let go!"

"That seems clingy and creepy."

"But, if it's true love, isn't it worth it?"

"Well, I don't know if 'true love' are the words I would use."

"Why not? If it's love, then it's obviously true."

Yua sighed. She didn't know what that meant. She came up with another excuse.

"He doesn't live close."

"You've just got to have a reason to meet with him. Take the hat and return it! No! Better yet, hold onto it until he confesses his love!"

"That sounds like blackmail. I'm not going to keep it hostage; I'll just return it."

"Awe, what's romance without a little playful blackmail?" Rise teased. "Look super cute when you do return it then!"

Yua didn't know what constituted "super cute," but she brushed her hair and applied some makeup before going over to Adachi's apartment that evening. She also took some time to prepare a little apology gift; it wasn't much, but it was something. Her heart soared as the now-familiar sight of his apartment building came into view, and it continued to pound away in her chest as she ascended the external stairs up to his floor. After reaching the final unit on the floor, she knocked on the door and waited.

Yua hoped Adachi was home today. She forgot to text him; it wouldn't feel right to leave the tie on his doorstep like she had with the food. She had held on to the item for so long. Adachi deserved an apology or an explanation at the very least. Maybe then she could strike up a conversation with him. Maybe he would invite her inside. They could talk for a while, and then—And then, what?

What was she doing? The makeup suddenly felt clownish and unnatural. Would she really dress up for a friend like this? Embarrassment and shame stung her again. The logical part of her knew that she was just teasing something that would never happen. Of all the facets of the human heart, this wish seemed to be the most contradictory.

Yua heard a noise from behind the door. The doorknob began to turn, and she contained the thoughts with a pleasant smile.

"Yua?" The smile Adachi gave as he saw her made her warm inside. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just dropping by, and, well, I have something of yours," she reached into her bag and pulled out the red tie.

"My tie!" He grinned and took it from her. "Thank you! I thought I had lost it. Dojima was just grilling me all yesterday because of it."

"Well, it's kind of my fault. I was holding on when you turned around."

"Ah, but you can't take all of the blame. I did just up and run off in the middle of you trying to help me."

"Well, you were in a hurry."

"A bit in too much of a hurry," he laughed. "Though, I'm not in one right now. You want to come in for a minute? Have something to drink?"

Yua jumped and had to keep a smile from slipping onto her face, "Of course—if you don't mind."

"Now that you mentioned it, I do have to get ready for tomorrow; it might be better if I turned in really early. So…" Adachi held his hands up as he saw her expression fall. "Just kidding." She perked back up. "Come on in."

Adachi waved her inside, and she took off her shoes. He gestured for her to have a seat at his kotatsu table and brought her a glass of water. There were a few moments of silence after he sat down. It didn't bother Yua; she was honestly over the moon that he had invited her in. But, Adachi was on edge. He tapped his knee with his fingertips.

"Anything wrong?" Yua asked, fearing she had shown up at a bad time.

"Oh, no, just," he gave her an innocent smile and looked down at the hand on his kneecap before flexing it, "jonesing for a cigarette, I guess."

"You smoke?" Her uncle smoked a lot, outside and out of sight from Nanako, but she'd never seen Adachi join him.

"Not really; it's expensive." He touched the back of his head. "I usually pawn one off your uncle when he'll let me."

"I could get you a few if you want," the words tumbled out of her mouth the second she noticed the need.

"You're not old enough to buy them," He smiled as he pointed out the obvious flaw in her plan.

That smile made her try again, "I'll just borrow a few from my uncle's stash. He smokes enough already. I don't think he'll miss a couple."

"Really? Thanks! You don't have to give me anything, though," he muttered.

With that, she remembered her apology gift and reached into her bag, "Oh! I made something for you."

"Made something fo—" the present was hastily shoved into his hands. Adachi peered down at the little origami flower. It was made out of three different pastel colors and looked extremely intricate. "This is awesome, Yua." His face lit up like she had just handed him a million yen. The sight made her heart beat faster.

"It's nothing much."

"It's perfect! It must have taken a lot of time and skill. I know I couldn't have done something like this."

"I could show you how," the words were coming faster now. Yua's need to please him was taking over her thoughts. He looked at her with confusion, and she explained as she pulled some extra pieces of paper out of her bag, "I do it all the time and sometimes during lunch to make some quick money."

Yua took a colored piece of paper and started folding it with her skilled hands.

"You really make money off of this?" he chuckled as he watched her fold the little crane bird.

"It's not the only way," She shrugged. "But it's good for when you want to make a little money while sitting in front of the TV."

"That might be a good idea. I could use some extra cash. Mind if I try?"

Yua nodded and handed him a piece of paper. She showed him the basic folds on her paper, and soon, he was doing it on his own. The small fire in her heart was stoked with every fleeting moment of eye contact; he took her instructions seriously and kept praising her craft. He made careful measurements with his hands along the lines and folded without hesitation.

"You're pretty good at this," she said as he folded the origami.

"Well, I've always been good with my hands," Adachi commented.

"Oh, yeah, I bet you'd have to have good hand-eye coordination if you're a police officer."

He chuckled, "I'd like to think it extends to more delicate things when necessary, especially things that I really care about."

"Neat," after she said it, he gave her a side glance that she didn't understand.

Adachi finished his crane a minute later.

"Here we go," he placed the new crane next to the one she had made. "Now I made your bird a boyfriend to go with it."

"Oh, it's a he?"

"Yeah, his name's Aiko because all cranes deserve to have names," he winked.

Yua blinked, "Oh, ok, that's cool!"

Yua realized that she wasn't exactly being a master of communication at the moment, but she was so busy trying to keep herself from saying something stupid. Honestly, she'd promise the moon if he asked her for it.

He went back to folding another bird, but this time, his folding was off center and less careful. Yua felt like she missed something again. She didn't know why, but she felt like something was off.

Yua smiled to cover up any potential awkwardness. She decided to make him another crane, or maybe a cat to remind him of his kindness. She reached for another piece of paper from the stack. She grabbed the piece of paper, only to have his hand bump hers as he also reached for one.

"Oup! Sorry!" He said.

Yua made quick eye contact with him before jolting her hand away. His hand retracted after some hesitation and made its way to the back of his neck.

"You know," Adachi muttered. "You're doing a lot of nice things for me. I don't get it. What's in it for you?"

Yua would probably die before giving him the real reason, so she simply said, "Nothing but your friendship. Honestly, I'm fairly straightforward like that. Got nothing up my sleeve." She pulled her sleeves down to dramatically demonstrate that she, in fact, had nothing up her sleeve.

Why did I do that? Stupid!

Adachi just smirked and looked down at the two origami birds, "I'm sorry. I keep pulling away, saying weird things like 'you're too nice,' and I don't mean to. It's just different, trying to adjust."

"Adjust?"

"You know, to having friends," He sighed. "This is going to sound really pathetic, but I-I didn't have many friends growing up. Maybe one or two for a short time, but no one I'd really hang out with like your friends. So, I was really touched when you did all of these things for me. I really appreciated it when you called me your friend."

Yua blinked. She'd just done it because it felt right. She didn't realize it meant so much to Adachi.

Adachi glanced back at her before letting out a pathetic laugh, "Sorry, I don't mean to be such a pity party. I need to make a change. I just don't know what's wrong with me."

"Nothing," Yua had felt that loneliness before; it was tough but not impossible to overcome.

"As kind as that is, I'm not sure that's the case."

"Well," she muttered. "Maybe you just need to reach out a little more. I know that I didn't want to bother anyone when I came to town. It's a little awkward, sometimes you'll pull someone out of a trashcan, but it leads to making really good friends."

"I've got to find someone in the garbage, good advice."

"Maybe that's not the best example," she sighed. "But, do you have anyone you talk to other than me?"

"Well, Dojima-san, but he's Dojima—y'know. He communicates in grunts, short commands, and a fist to the head. There's my neighbor, but she's ancient and pretty deaf. And she's been out of town visiting her son recently. My parents… we don't really talk."

"I understand. My parents don't talk to me much even if they are home. I know they love me, but I'm not sure they're too good at showing it sometimes," Yua felt the words slip out; she didn't mean to say something so personal. She decided to dismiss her statement when:

"Well, they should show it more. You're an exceptional woman."

Yua had to look away to suppress the blush on her face. Exceptional woman: he didn't see her as a little kid. Some part of her swelled with pride at the notion. Another part recognized that it was probably just a fluke. He didn't seem to treat it with any seriousness.

"Thank you."

"No problem, you spend so much time building everyone up; I figured I can return the favor once in a while," he grinned.

Yua felt a warmth that she hadn't in a long time. She bit her lip before whispering, "I appreciate that."

Her hands were sweaty. She was getting too flustered; she needed to leave before saying something else stupid.

"I think it's time for me to go; I've got a lot of errands to run before I get home." She hoped that he didn't ask what those "errands" were because she would be unable to name them.

"Alright then," Adachi winked.

Yua stood abruptly and made her way to the door.

"Yua," she turned around and suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Adachi smiling at her. "Thank you so much for everything."

Yua nodded and felt like she was short-circuiting. She barely recognized the voice in her head recounting the strengthening of a social link.

"And, you forgot your bag," in the other hand, he pushed her bag into her grasp.

"Oh, thank you!" Yua grabbed it from him.

"Maybe I'll start by making better friends with you. Would you like to come over a bit more? I really like talking to you, and I usually don't have the time for a one-on-one on the streets or when I'm at Dojima's."

"Absolutely!" She grinned without thinking.

His hand left her shoulder, and she suddenly felt like it had been the last thing tethering her to the earth. She practically floated out the door and barely registered their parting words. She drifted down the street while the phantom pressure of his hand on her shoulder remained.

She knew she had to keep herself grounded.

"Adachi-san's a great friend," she told herself. "Adachi-san is only a friend. Only a friend."