"Thank you for your blessing," Kotomi Izumi said sincerely.
If possible, she truly wished she could live just as Hidari Okumuro had blessed her—to always keep that childlike innocence in her heart.
Some people, from birth until death, grow and change physically with time, yet their hearts remain forever like those of children who never grow up.
"Never growing up" might sound like a criticism at first.
But on second thought, isn't that also a kind of happiness?
A life where family always protects you, where you never worry about food or shelter, where you can live carefree forever. Even in old age, you're still surrounded by people who love and cherish you, treating you like a child—where you never have to face the kind of pressure that forces people to "grow up overnight."
A life with no worries. While others in middle age are burdened by mortgages, car loans, and endless responsibilities, you can still be debating whether to eat tomato-flavored chips or barbecue-flavored ones while watching cartoons.
Your most frequent destinations each month are the supermarket and the toy store.
Even after growing old, if one day you suddenly feel like acting spoiled, there's still family who will let you.
"By the way, I should tell you why Yukki and I are going to Shinjuku tomorrow," Hidari said. "Even though I managed to save up a bit during my years as Assistant Inspector, it's not enough to live on forever. Being a police officer was never a job for getting rich. Luckily, I can still make use of the connections I built back then. I asked a friend in Shinjuku to help me find a small studio space in the city—not too expensive."
"Aunt Hidari, are you planning to start your own business?"
Aunt?
Hidari Okumuro, who had grown used to being called 'Officer Hidari' by Kotomi, froze for a moment. She had been the one to tell Kotomi she didn't need to call her that anymore—but hearing "Aunt" from a high school girl still caught her off guard.
Though she knew she was already in her thirties, being called "Aunt" suddenly made her realize, so I really have gotten older.
After savoring the feeling of being called "Aunt" for a moment, Hidari chuckled softly. She found herself smiling more often these days.
"You could call it starting a business, I suppose. My new work will still have a bit to do with criminal cases. I bought that studio to remodel it into a detective agency."
"You're going to be a private detective?!" Kotomi exclaimed, surprised.
"Yes, a private detective. The sign is already made—'Hidari Detective Agency.'
"Once I get to Shinjuku tomorrow, I'll hang it up and then spend about a month on renovations.
"I chose Shinjuku because it's lively. As long as I get some help with early publicity, I shouldn't have to worry about a lack of clients.
"Haha, though I imagine most cases will be things like investigating affairs or infidelity.
"As for those big, dramatic cases you see in mystery novels—where a famous detective gets invited to a secluded island villa, a murder happens, and a genius criminal calling himself 'The Puppet Master of Hell' becomes their lifelong rival—well, that's just the kind of fantasy best left to novels."
Resigning from the MPD to become a private detective… sounded almost like something out of a manga.
Detective Mouri Kogoro, perhaps?
"Aunt Hidari, you're still missing one thing, you know what it is?"
"What is it?" Hidari asked curiously.
Her drive was impressive. The moment she submitted her resignation, she started searching for a suitable studio, buying furniture, and hiring renovation teams. By the time the Metropolitan Police officially approved her resignation, her detective agency was nearly ready to open.
By all logic, she should have been perfectly prepared.
"A shiny gold business card," Kotomi said with a grin, clearly playing around.
Hidari didn't get the reference, but after thinking about it for a moment, she realized—she actually hadn't made any business cards for her new career yet.
So she decided that on her way home tonight, she'd stop by a print shop and order a few dozen business cards.
As for the color, she couldn't be bothered to think too hard about it. Originally, she had planned to go with a simple black-and-white design—plain, clean, and easy to read.
But since Kotomi had mentioned it, she decided to follow her suggestion and make them gold and shiny.
"You're right, I hadn't prepared business cards yet. Thanks for the reminder," Hidari Okumuro said with a nod of gratitude.
"No problem at all. But Aunt Hidari, you didn't resign just because of what I said, right?" Kotomi asked the question that had been on her mind for a while.
Hidari chuckled softly. "You really don't miss a thing, do you, kid?"
She was a bit surprised. She hadn't planned on telling Kotomi the full story, but since this sharp girl—whose intelligence could be a little frightening at times—had already seen through her, she decided to explain.
Hidari Okumuro finally revealed the real reason for her resignation.
Rather than saying she resigned voluntarily, it was more accurate to say she had no choice but to resign. Though she had been given an opportunity to redeem herself, she didn't take it—because in her heart, she believed she hadn't done anything wrong.
In her last case, she had committed what, by police standards, was considered a serious dereliction of duty.
...
Kanagawa.
The sea was calm. A small fishing boat cruised slowly across the early morning waters. In the hazy dawn light, a few fishing enthusiasts chatted cheerfully, confident they wouldn't go home empty-handed today.
They were already joking about what kind of poses they'd strike for photos if they managed to catch something big.
"Hey, hey—what's that over there?"
"A tuna?!"
"We haven't gone far from shore—you can still see the dock from here! How could it be a tuna? It doesn't look like a plastic bag someone tossed in either. Even from this distance, it looks like something floating on the water… something unusual."
"Hahaha, I bet he's still hung up about losing that tuna last year—didn't even get a picture before it got away! Ever since, he can't eat in peace until he catches another one to redeem himself."
"UFO, maybe?"
"How could a UFO be that small?"
"Hey, should we go check it out? Something feels off."
"Sure, let's do it. Hey! Head east."
"The closer we get, the stranger it looks. What the—! It's—it's a body!"
"Call the police, now!"
A female corpse was retrieved from the water. Though the body was already bloated from long exposure to seawater, the forensic team determined through autopsy that it belonged to a seventeen-year-old girl.
Judging from the uniform, she was most likely a student from a private high school in Kanagawa.
A high school girl had been murdered. The incident immediately caught the attention of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Whenever a criminal case involved a minor, it had to be solved as quickly as possible—to uncover the truth and give the victim's family an answer.
Through her school uniform and the student ID sewn inside her jacket, the police confirmed her identity—Yoko Uehara, a second-year student at Kanagawa No. 2 Private High School. She had applied for a leave of absence some time ago.
After taking the leave, she started working part-time at a convenience store.
During the investigation, many clues began to point toward her girlfriend—Masami Kamihisa.
The two of them had both been boarding students, staying in the dormitory from Sunday to Friday and returning home on weekends. On Sunday evenings, they had to return to the dorms for self-study sessions.
The dormitory rooms were all shared by two people, and coincidentally, they were assigned as roommates.
Neither girl was particularly remarkable in terms of looks or presence in class. They didn't have many friends, weren't especially beautiful, and their grades were average at best.
If Yoko Uehara worked a little harder, she might have gotten into an average university, while Masami Kamihisa was planning to apply to a vocational school.
Two ordinary students falling in love shouldn't have attracted much attention. After all, it wasn't like the school's most popular boy and girl getting together—a story that would break hearts across the student body.
When ordinary students start dating, at most their friends tease them a little—saying things like, "How could you betray the single people's alliance before me?!" or "You better be happy, idiot!" or "When's the wedding? I'll sit at the kids' table since I can't drink."
But the problem was… both Yoko Uehara and Masami Kamihisa were girls.
People say not to care too much about others' opinions—but it's also true that some people's malice toward same-gender love runs disturbingly deep.
For some reason, word of their relationship spread throughout the entire school. And since they lived in the same dorm room, the gossip only grew worse.
At first, the rumors spread through their class. Then they reached other classes. Eventually, even the teachers found out that there were two female students in a romantic relationship.
Kanagawa No. 2 Private High School had always taken a strict stance against "early relationships." And now, to make matters worse, it was between two girls.
Unsurprisingly, the teachers called both girls' parents to the school. Since neither family was wealthy nor the type to curry favor with teachers through gifts, the teachers spoke harshly.
Both families were very concerned with saving face. When they heard their daughters had not only fallen in love but done so with another girl—and were met with the teachers' cold, judgmental words—they reacted badly.
By the time anyone could stop it, Masami Kamihisa's mother had already struck her.
The parents repeatedly promised the teachers that they would make sure the two girls broke up and didn't affect other students' studies. Only then did the matter settle—at least, in the teachers' eyes.
But in high school, resolving things with the teachers didn't mean much. The hardest part was dealing with the other students.
From that day on, both their classmates and students from other classes began treating them differently—whispering, snickering, making sure they could hear bits and pieces of the gossip.
Whenever the two girls entered the dorm or even just walked together, some people would shout taunting comments loudly on purpose.
One girl in particular was the worst—constantly mocking them, barging into their dorm room, and spewing cruel, filthy words.
Even some classmates who pitied them didn't dare say anything. That girl—Tsuchiya—had a delinquent boyfriend who hung around the school. Plenty of students had already suffered at her hands.
Unable to endure the bullying and constant harassment any longer, Yoko Uehara reached her breaking point. When she went to the restroom, Tsuchiya's friends would follow her in, and once she entered a stall, they'd lift the cleaning bucket and dump the dirty water over her.
Her uniform always reeked and was soaked through. Whenever she tried to rush out to confront them, she'd find the door blocked by mops and brooms.
"Masami… I want to take a leave from school…"
One night, Yoko Uehara finally spoke her heart to Masami Kamihisa.
Yoko Uehara and Masami Kamihisa lay together on the narrow dorm bed. The dorm used bunk beds, and with both of them on the same mattress, it was inevitably cramped.
But moments like this—curled up together at the end of the day—were the only times that could soothe the pain in their hearts.
Masami Kamihisa was silent for a long while. It was as if she had already known what Yoko would say. She gently kissed her on the forehead.
"If you want to take a leave from school, then take it."
"And you, Masami…?"
"I can't take a leave with you. You know how my parents are—they used every connection they had just to get me into this school. They'd never allow it. But don't worry about me. Once you're gone, I'll be the only one left. If I just ignore them, they'll eventually get bored and stop bothering me."
"It'll be hard."
"It won't. Compared to my childhood, this is nothing. You saw what my parents are like, right? They've never liked me. My mother hits me whenever she can find a reason to—because… haha, you already knew, didn't you, Masami? I'm not pure. My first time was already—"
"Stop it, Masami! I don't care! Let's forget everything that happened before. During my leave, I'll find a part-time job. I'll save as much as I can. When the time comes—let's leave together. We may not have the power to take revenge, but we can at least run away, right? Let's leave this place forever. Go to another city—somewhere no one knows us."
"Living on our own will be difficult, but that's okay. I'll work hard too. Wait for me, just one year."
"Masami, I love you."
"Yoko, I swear—I'll love you for the rest of my life."
Yoko Uehara's request for leave was approved without much resistance. Perhaps her parents thought keeping her in school would only bring more shame. After scolding her harshly, they gave their reluctant permission.
After leaving school, Yoko didn't stay cooped up at home. She worked several part-time jobs instead—leaving early in the morning, returning late at night. Most of her paycheck went to her parents to help with expenses. The rest she split in two: half she saved, and half she used to buy little gifts for Masami.
Whenever there was overtime available, Yoko was always the first to volunteer—because working extra hours meant earning extra money.
Their Saturday dates became the highlight of their week.
Every weekend, Yoko would take Masami out shopping or to eat their favorite snacks. Those short hours together helped them unwind from the week's tension, letting them breathe again. It felt like, if they just kept living like this, they might really make it to graduation and escape Tsuchiya and her gang for good.
Masami didn't want Yoko to keep spending money on her. Feeling guilty about always being on the receiving end, she secretly took all the pocket money she had saved up and, after school on Friday, went to a jewelry shop in the shopping district.
There, she bought a delicate pink crystal necklace.
The workmanship was beautiful—the soft pink crystal shimmered faintly, the kind of trinket that would catch any high school girl's eye.
When Masami clasped the necklace around Yoko's neck with her own hands, Yoko smiled brightly—so happily that tears welled up in her eyes.
Her smile, in that moment, made Masami feel something she had never felt before.
For the first time in her life, she felt that there was light.
From that moment on, Yoko never took the necklace off. She only removed it when she had to work—reluctantly—because she was afraid of damaging it. It wasn't expensive, but to her, it was priceless.
—Pink crystal is said to bring good luck. I hope this crystal will bring a little kindness and fortune to our love.
Masami whispered those words softly as she placed the necklace around Yoko's neck.
—
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