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The drive to Osaka wasn’t exactly what you’d call comfortable. L wasn’t a great conversationalist at the best of times, but car drives really seem to be out of his comfort zone and he always clams up even more. And on top of the half-hour awkward silence, I was still freaking out over how this whole thing was going to work.

I was positive that somebody would either find out what we were up to or that something highly embarrassing would happen. The latter sounded a lot more likely, but hell, knowing my luck, I’d probably end up with both.

I’d never been so grateful to see the house that I’d grown up in. I parked on the side of the road behind my Auntie Maggie’s car. Cars weren’t all that necessary for me here. Most places I’d needed to go to were all within walking distance. That suited me quite well – I wanted to use my car as little as possible. Cars were a way to be identified.

“Well... here we are,” I said awkwardly after we’d gotten out of the car.

I’d already dragged my suitcase out of the trunk. L actually had a small duffel bag slung over his shoulder. I couldn’t help but wonder what was in it. I’d never seen him carry anything before. As far as I was concerned, all he owned was a single outfit, a cell phone and a laptop.

With the duffel bag and the hoody I’d forced him to wear, he could actually pass for a normal guy right now. Until he opened his mouth at least. Or tried sitting the way he usually preferred to. That would definitely be a dead giveaway that he was anything but normal.

“After you,” prompted L.

I wondered if he felt uncomfortable with this situation. Meeting families was always quite tense for anybody. But for L, rarely ever allowing anyone to see his face, it had to be really tough. Though of course, his expression was as impassive as always and I had no hope of knowing for sure.

Feeling quite nervous myself, I led the way down to the house. I felt like I really was introducing a real boyfriend to my family. And I realised then that I really did want my family to like L. I wanted them to appreciate him the way that I did. I wanted them to accept him.

I quickly scolded myself following that thought. I couldn’t think things like that. I had to keep viewing the situation from a professional angle. I couldn’t let myself believe it was real on any level or I was just going to end up feeling even more mixed up about L.

Sadly, that still wasn’t quite enough to calm my nerves and I rang the doorbell with a sense of trepidation. Thankfully, it was my mom who answered the door. She was easily the most normal one of the household.

“Gee-Gee!” She enveloped me in a big hug. “It feels like ages since I’ve seen you!”

“Hey, Mom...” I hugged her back, feeling a pang of sadness. Seeing her always reminded me how much I missed being with my family. I really needed to make the time to visit more often. I always let myself get bogged down with work too much.

She gave me a wide smile when she let go. “You changed your hair again! It makes me feel like you’re a teenager again – you were always dyeing your hair back then! It looks great though. Dark suits you.”

Well, that part of the plan had clearly been successful. She didn’t suspect a thing. Sakura Shidou had always known what it felt like to be plain, so she’d never begrudged me changing my style in an attempt to feel more comfortable. Funnily enough, the comfort part was a lot more important to me now than style. Hence why my hair was usually allowed to run wild. But not as wild as L’s, I might add. At least I actually brushed mine every day.

“I just fancied a change again,” I said casually. I grabbed L’s arm and pulled him forwards. If he didn’t introduce himself soon, then it was going to look rude. Looked like I had to step in and do it myself. “Mom, this is Ryuzaki.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” said L obligingly.

“The pleasure’s all mine. I’m Sakura,” Mom beamed. She didn’t give any indication that she thought L seemed unusual at all. Lucky strike number two. “Come on in. I’ll go make some coffee,” she decided as we followed her inside. “Ryuzaki, how do you take yours?”

“Black with eight sugars, thank you.”

Oh, good lord... Because that didn’t make him sound abnormal. I resisted the urge to kick him. Thankfully, Mom just laughed. “Alright then. Gee, do you want anything?”

“Anything fizzy,” I replied.

“I should have known,” said Mom, rolling her eyes. Hey, at least I wasn’t requesting energy drinks. She always chastised me for that particular habit.

“I’ll go take our stuff upstairs,” I said.

“Let me take that one,” L cut in, taking the suitcase from me. “Lead the way.”

“Err, it’s this way,” I said, vaguely pointing in the direction of the stairs as I stared at him. Since when had L ever offered to carry my things? Once we were out of earshot, I then hissed, “What are you doing?”

“Isn’t this the protocol for boyfriends?” L asked, completely oblivious.

“Not necessarily. It’s certainly not one I adhere to,” I pointed out. “I can carry my own suitcase.”

“As you wish then,” said L with a shrug, handing the suitcase back to me. Typical.

“You’ve gotta be careful,” I warned him as we reached the top of the stairs. “If you act like you don’t know me, then this isn’t gonna work. It’s gonna raise suspicions with my family – they already know what I do and don’t like guys trying to do for me.”

L stopped beside me. “Alright. So what do I need to know?”

I hesitated. That wasn’t exactly easy to say. How did you describe yourself, along with your wants and needs, to somebody else? And this certainly wasn’t a conversation we could really have on the landing when my family were waiting downstairs for us.

“Later,” I said, opening the door to my old bedroom. “Just try not to say too much for now. If they think you’re shy, then they won’t find that unusual.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Well, at least he knew he wasn’t the world’s best conversationalist.

I ditched the suitcase just inside the door and told L to do the same with his duffel bag. He was busy looking around the room already. “Come on, let’s get back downstairs,” I said, tugging on his sleeve. There would certainly be time for the awkward tour later on.

Mom was just finishing making the drinks when we got down to the kitchen. Auntie Maggie and Grandpa were already sat at the table with drinks of their own. They both looked up when we entered the room. Christ on a bike, here we go...

“Gee!” Auntie Maggie leapt out of her chair when she saw me and ran over to give me a hug. Ever exuberant – she was more like a big sister than an aunt. “Love the new hair! How have you been keeping?”

“Busy, as always,” I replied truthfully. “How about you?”

“Oh, you know, always partying,” she grinned.

“You wish,” Mom added.

Auntie Maggie rolled her eyes at her. “Saki keeps trying to say I’m ‘too old’ to party now, but of course we never listen to her.”

“I’m sure,” I smiled.

Auntie Maggie was a lot of things, but she could certainly never be described as old. But then my mom was a bit of a wallflower type when it came to parties herself, so she probably would say something like that. I’d like to say I follow in those footsteps of hers, but I’m actually a bit of a nutter when I’m drunk... Yeah, I guess you all know about that already.

“So are you going to introduce us to your friend?” Auntie Maggie asked knowingly, looking over my shoulder at L.

“Oh, yeah. This is Ryuzaki.” I dragged L forward again. I knew he’d be uncomfortable with a situation like this, but he was kinda overdoing the whole ‘shy’ thing. Did I have to do everything for him? “Ryuzaki, this is my Auntie Maggie.”

L gave her a rather awkward nod. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Then, to my absolute amazement, Auntie Maggie grabbed him in a hug as well. “Well, aren’t you cute! It’s nice to meet you too!”

Oh, great, he was going to think we were a family of spontaneous huggers... Though if I was taken aback, I’m sure it was nothing compared to how L was feeling. He wasn’t easy to surprise, but I could see it on his face right now. I had to actually bite back a laugh. It was really quite comical.

But that didn’t mean that Auntie Maggie got to have all the fun. I had to physically pull him away from her. “Okay, you don’t have to smother him.”

“No need to get jealous, Gee-Gee,” Auntie Maggie teased with another grin. I flushed in spite of myself.

“Very funny,” I said dryly, in an attempt to cover my embarrassment. “Err, why don’t we sit down...” I directed L over to sit next to my grandpa, who had been quiet so far. It was certainly safer than sitting him next to Auntie Maggie. “This is my grandpa, Yoshi.”

Grandpa gave L a curt nod as he sat down. Thankfully, he did it in a normal fashion for once. “Pleasure.”

“You too,” replied L. He was probably relieved that my grandpa was more composed than the female side of the family.

I sat down opposite them, besides the chair that Auntie Maggie had just vacated. “So how’s it going, old man?”

“Oh, you know how it is. Have to suffer this rowdy lot every day of my life.” He jabbed a thumb towards Auntie Maggie, who had just re-claimed her seat. “And by rowdy lot, I mean her.”

Auntie Maggie just beamed at him, ignoring the jibe. We all knew that Yoshi Shidou actually had a huge soft spot for the wacky redhead, even if he never openly admitted it. “Don’t listen to him. He’s been grumpy ever since your birthday. He really didn’t expect you to get one over on him this time.”

Realisation dawned on me. “Of course, the clock! Well, tough luck, old man, I happened to have a certain brainbox helping me out on that one.”

I grinned and winked in L’s direction before I even realised what I was doing. Aww, crap, was I really flirting that openly with him now? I guessed I’d always just been used to banter flowing so easily amongst my family. Just being in an environment with them again was clearly making it rub off on me already.

Thankfully, nobody else seemed to notice. I don’t think even L did. That or he just wasn’t letting on. But then I most certainly wouldn’t have put that past him.

“Ah, so you’re familiar with the Chinese superstition then?” Grandpa asked L.

“Yes,” replied L. “I have some extended family from China.”

No wonder it was always so hard to tell when he was lying. He’d done it so smoothly that it was impossible to know the difference. If I hadn’t known any different, then I would have believed him too. But then, for all I knew, this was the truth and what he’d told me yesterday had been the lie... Urgh. Sometimes I felt like we’d been brought together on this case just for him to mess with my head.

It was probably better if I didn’t think about it. “So does this mean I get my real present now?” I directed the subject change at my grandpa.

“I suppose,” he grumbled. “If you can find it.”

“What; I have to do treasure hunts as well as riddles now?”

“Don’t worry; it’s only on my dresser,” Auntie Maggie cut in. “He just clearly can’t be bothered to go upstairs and get it.”

“Terrible,” I teased, shaking my head theatrically.

That was the other great thing about my grandpa’s method of gift giving – besides the obvious challenge that they usually posed – it meant that I always had at least one present to still look forward to even after my birthday was over. But I’d wait until later for this one. Probably better not to leave L alone with my family just yet. Even if it was only for a minute or two.

But of course, everyone seemed to like foiling my plans lately. “Why don’t you run and grab it?” Mom suggested as she started pouring out the hot drinks. “You’ve earned it fair and square, like always.”

“Err...” I looked towards L, as if I was asking him permission. Well, he was the one who’d suffer from this after all.

But since he’d been a surprisingly good sport with all of this, he simply said, “It’s fine.”

At least I didn’t have to feel guilty about leaving him in their clutches then, I thought to myself as I made my way up the stairs a second time. Particularly Auntie Maggie’s. I went through the first door on my right into her and my mom’s bedroom.

Since I’d moved out, Auntie Maggie could have easily just had my old room to herself. But she always insisted that sharing with my mom was more fun. Mom had never done college or university and had never had a roommate before, so she’d always been just as up for the idea. It was no wonder I had a childish side of my own after growing up with such wacky role models.

I found a gift bag on top of the dresser, like Auntie Maggie had said. Inside it was a fully pose-able Freddy Krueger action figure. I smiled to myself. Nice one, old man. This would look pretty awesome next to the bust I had in my toy corner back home. Better put him with my stuff so that I didn’t forget him once this ‘visit’ was over.

I took Freddy back through to my room and laid him on top of my suitcase. At least that way I’d be sure to remember him. I straightened up and looked around. I’d moved out of here when I was eighteen to go to a better university in Kyoto, but I’d come back for a short period when I’d quit the police force after the whole Teddy Harper ordeal.

I’d only been here for a month or two before I’d wanted to be up and doing something again. I’d had a boyfriend during that time who had certainly helped with the grieving stage, but that relationship had only been short-lived. And by that stage, I’d decided to return to Kyoto once more and do what I’d always dreamed of – becoming an independent detective.

I mostly had good memories of being here, so coming back always made me feel nostalgic. It hadn’t changed much since I’d lived here. There were still a few old posters tacked to the walls – The Cranberries, Back To The Future, Weekend At Bernie’s... There was an empty space above my bed where my signed Tears For Fears one had been. That was the only one that I’d consented to taking with me to Kyoto.

Mom had even left my old Betty Boop bedspread on. I’d never really been a Betty Boop fan like Auntie Maggie had, but I’d always liked her colour scheme. Red was my second favourite colour after green. And it certainly fit the theme I had going on in here. Red on red.

Seeing the bedspread reminded me that I needed to go and get the sleeping bag still. I’d already decided that I’d use that myself and let L have the bed. As an insomniac, he probably wasn’t going to sleep very much, but at least the bed would be comfier than the floor. And he could still sleep then if he wanted to. God knows what he’d actually do during the night time hours... But we’d already agreed that he’d have to stay in my room until morning to keep the pretence up. I knew my family would find it weird if they caught him roaming about the house in the middle of the night.

I decided to grab the sleeping bag whilst I was still upstairs, so I went back out onto the landing and sought out the airing cupboard. The sleeping bag didn’t seem to be in there. I searched through the entire cupboard, but there was definitely no sleeping bag. That was strange. Maybe someone had already taken it out.

I peeked back into Mom and Auntie Maggie’s room again, but it wasn’t in there either. I didn’t know where else it would be, so I figured I’d just go downstairs and ask. I was grateful to see that L had survived whatever had happened after I’d gone upstairs. He actually seemed more interested in his coffee than anything else.

“Hey, has anyone seen the sleeping bag?” I asked, hovering in the doorway.

“Oh, I lent it to Minagi the other day,” Auntie Maggie replied.

“Wait, what?”

“Her boys are going camping with the school,” she explained, oblivious to my sudden panic. “She only had the one, so it saves her having to buy another just for one trip.”

I chanced a nervous look at L, but he still didn’t seem to be paying attention. Didn’t he realise that this was going to affect him as much as it did me? Crap. I’d known this trip was going to be embarrassing as hell. I wondered if it would come across as weird if I went and bought another sleeping bag before tonight.

If I looked at it from my family’s point of view, then the answer was yes. When had I ever used a sleeping bag just because I had a boyfriend staying over? And my family were clearly happy to confirm that. “Don’t look so freaked out,” said Auntie Maggie. “What do you need a sleeping bag for anyway?”

“You’re an adult, Gee,” Mom added. “We’ve never had an issue with you having anyone stay over before. You don’t need to start worrying about that now. You know the rules still. It’s fine – just remember that it’s your grandpa’s house.”

Which was basically their way of saying that whilst I was under Grandpa’s roof I was okay to share my bed as long as there was nothing else involved. I didn’t think it was possible to blush any deeper. Did anybody else’s families talk this casually about sex in front of their boyfriends? Or pretend boyfriends at that?

“And I’m sure Ryuzaki won’t mind bed sharing,” Auntie Maggie grinned, winking at L.

Okay. I was wrong. I felt more colour rush into my cheeks, made even worse by L finally looking up from his coffee and monotonously agreeing, “That won’t be a problem.”

What? I wanted to reach over the table and give him a good shake. I stared at him with wide eyes. What did he mean ‘won’t be a problem’? This was still L, wasn’t it? The guy who avoided human contact as much as possible?

I knew he was going along with it for the sake of keeping up the pretence of our false relationship so that we could work freely from here without raising any suspicions, but I’d been hoping he’d use those supposed genius detective skills to come out with some magical solution to the sleeping situation. Unfortunately, no such luck.

Number one detective, my ass. I sure hoped he knew what he was getting us into.

*

As soon as the first opportunity came up, I excused both myself and L, saying that we were going to spend the afternoon around town. Technically, that wasn’t even a lie.

After we’d gotten away from the house – I’d left my car behind; again grateful that everywhere was easy to get to on foot around here and that I had one less thing to worry about for once – we’d agreed to go and see Shen first before anything else. He’d told me a lot of the details on the phone the other day, but I still wanted to speak to him first hand. I still had more questions. And the longer I could go without having to think of the foreboding sleeping arrangements, the better.

Once we’d made the decision, I’d called ahead to give Shen the heads up that we were coming. He was there to meet us at the door when we got to the morgue and happily let us both in. His greeting to me was a simple pat on the shoulder, despite how long it had been since we’d last seen each other. He had a keep-your-distance rule much like L did. I’d often joked that he preferred handling dead people to live people.

Shen got straight down to business once I’d made the introductions between him and L. And they’d been pretty painful to watch, at that. They’d merely nodded at each other. Yeesh, how did I keep finding these social recluses?

“So I get the feeling I’ve stumbled onto something important,” Shen stated, rather than asked.

I nodded. “We’re already investigating the death of Sunae Michishio. Hopefully, this will be the next step to finding out just who murdered her and stole her identity.”

I didn’t add about any of the other murders. I trusted Shen completely, but it was just a basic detective rule – never share more than you need to. If it wasn’t relevant, then nobody else needed to know. The less people linked to a dangerous case, the better. That was how it always worked.

“In that case, I’m glad to have passed the information along,” said Shen dutifully. “Is there anything else in particular that you need to know?”

“Can you tell us the exact time, or the closest estimation, that Ms. Michishio’s credit card was used?” L asked.

“I’m not aware of an exact time,” Shen confessed. “But my best estimation is that it was on Friday 30th at roughly three in the afternoon.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall opposite. It was already past that time now. If our identity thief happened to frequent the same store again, would they follow a similar pattern? Or was that too much to hope for? Either way, the day still wasn’t old just yet. “And it was the Nisa store in the Kanan area, right? Close to Nagai Park?”

“That’s the one,” Shen confirmed.

“Do you have any idea what was bought with the credit card?” I asked. It likely wouldn’t be relevant, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt either.

Shen shook his head. “I really wasn’t given many details. I was just asked to check the death records and given the reason why.”

“Who was it who asked you to check the death records?” questioned L.

“Superintendent Imadori. He’s the head of our police branch,” said Shen.

Damn, so there were already police involved. Did that mean there was a chance that Gibson knew about this too? Somehow, I had a feeling he wouldn’t be very happy to find out that we were already up here and investigating after he’d closed the case. “So the police are already investigating this now?”

“Not necessarily,” replied Shen.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Sunae Michishio’s name flagged up as an alert since she’d been listed as a possible victim of identity fraud,” Shen explained. “But because she was murdered outside of Osaka, the police here don’t have the level of complete jurisdiction that they’d like. Since it’s fraud, they’re obliged to have it checked out – which is why they asked me to look into the death records – but without the right jurisdiction, they’ll class it as a low priority. It’ll probably be a few days before they even follow it up any further.”

Huh. Well, that was something good at least. We still had a little bit of time to try and find some clues ourselves before the police started investigating this as well. And hopefully, they wouldn’t have informed the police back in Kyoto about it yet. At least not until they’d had Shen confirm the validity of the death records.

“So why exactly did you call me?” I had to ask. “Wouldn’t you normally have called the police in Kyoto in this kind of situation?”

“Normally, yes,” Shen agreed. “It was mostly the fact that the woman was murdered in Kyoto. I figured I’d just try you first to see if you’d heard anything about it. And you know even better than I do that you should always follow your whims.”

Tell me about it. “Still, though... You’ve met Gibson before. You know that he generally has the best clue of what’s going on in Kyoto. Better than me anyway.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” L interrupted. “After all, you found out about this case yourself very early on. Especially since it was supposed to be kept secret from anyone outside of the police force.”

Wow, was he actually commending me? That really didn’t happen very often. I almost felt a little cheap that I’d only found out about the case through using my so-called womanly charms on Chad. Though I guessed as long as it got the job done, then any trick of the trade was viable enough. “Err, I guess...” I was still a little thrown that he’d come close to complimenting me.

“Well, like I said, it was just a hunch,” Shen added. “But from the looks of it, I was spot on if I’ve touched onto a case that you’re already working.”

“Yeah. I guess it really is our case.” From the beginning of this whole thing, it had just been me trying to jump in on a case that the police were working. But now, it really was mine and L’s case.

“Gibson close early?” Shen guessed. He’d worked alongside the police in Kyoto enough times to know how Gibson’s mind worked.

I nodded. “We weren’t really in the same mind,” I said, indicating L as well as myself. “So we wanted to try and follow up on a few more things.”

“And there you go. Proving your hunches right, just like I said,” Shen pointed out, looking satisfied.

I smiled. “How do you think I got this far?” So much of my work as a detective came down to whims and lucky guesses that it was a little scary.

“And you’ll go farther still,” Shen smiled back. “Anyway, I hope all this was of some help to you. I wish I could have offered more information...”

“No, no, what you’ve told us has already given us more to go on than what we had originally,” I assured him. “Thank you, really.”

“Yes. You’ve been a great help,” agreed L.

“Well, I hope you’ve enough to solve this,” said Shen. “If I hear of anything else, then I’ll pass it along to you straightaway.”

We thanked Shen again before leaving. Having a more specific time on when Sunae Michishio’s card was used at least gave us a better idea of the situation. Not to mention it gave us something more concrete to work around. With that information, we could hopefully find out more about what staff had been working then and maybe even what sort of customers frequented the store around that time of day.

We headed straight from the morgue down to the Nisa convenience store in Kanan. It wasn’t too far – only about a twenty minute walk. And for once, I was too busy mulling things over to care about the awkward silence between me and L that I usually tried so desperately to break.

When we got to the store, it was obvious that we needed to decide carefully on our next step. Did we just go straight into the store? Or did we hold off on that for now in case our identity thief really was still hanging around and we raised suspicions? We’d likely have a few days of stakeout ahead of us, so now that the store was in our sights, we needed to plan this out properly.

“Here, let’s go over there for now,” I directed. I took L’s arm and directed him over to an empty bus stop a little way down from the store. At least we could stand there and discuss without it looking unnatural, rather than just stopping in the middle of the street.

I noticed L glance down at my hand on his arm. Oops. I guessed I had started to get a bit more hands-on with him recently, particularly since we’d gotten to Osaka. I sure hoped I wasn’t subconsciously starting to buy into the whole boyfriend thing myself.

I quickly let go, feeling sheepish. “Err, sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“It’s fine,” L assured. “It doesn’t bother me.”

Didn’t bother him? Wait, did that mean that it was okay? Was he actually giving me permission to be more touchy-feely? Surely he couldn’t be – I must have been reading into it too much. Either way, I didn’t quite feel brave enough to try and find out. And L seemed more interested in the other issue at hand.

“I don’t think we should go into the store today at least,” he said. “We’ve only just got here and this is a small town. Disguises or not, it may become apparent to some people that we’re not from around here. We don’t want it to be obvious that this is our first move upon coming into town.”

“Right,” I agreed. And knowing my luck, we’d probably run into someone I knew. I would not be impressed if our cover was blown after all this. “But I think we should still try and stake out the place from outside whilst we’re here. Even if it’s just for an hour or so.”

“I agree,” said L. He looked up and down the road before deciding on a place we could spy from. For a second, he moved his hand like he was going to take my arm, mimicking my earlier action, but then he seemed to think better of it and just pointed the direction instead. “Back up this way.”

I followed his lead, trying hard not to think about the possibility that maybe he was starting to become more comfortable around me. I managed to ignore it by mentally telling myself that I was being stupid and that it was just wishful thinking on my part.

L had chosen an old-fashioned coffee shop that was on the opposite side of the road to the Nisa convenience store. It was closer to the bus stop we’d just been stood at than the store itself, but we’d still be able to see what we needed to from there. Even better, there were some tables set up outside complete with parasols. We even had cover if we needed it. The only downside was that I’d actually been to this coffee shop before... So I knew that it had notoriously bad hot chocolate.

Under the pretence of looking at the sign listing the rather poor cake menu, we were able to judge which table would give us the best view. And once we’d angled the parasol better, we weren’t all that noticeable ourselves. Now this was a good turn of events that we’d been waiting for.

L stocked up with coffee for the task. I decided that it would be safer for my taste buds if I abstained. It didn’t take long to realise that I’d made the wrong decision. At least terrible hot chocolate would have been a distraction. I thought the drive up to Osaka had been awkward, but it was nothing compared to doing stakeout with L.

The worst part was that it couldn’t be awkward. If we wanted to sit here for a long time and not look suspicious, then we were going to have to do a bit more than sitting in supposed companionable silence. Unfortunately, I seemed to be the only one who’d realised this, so I had to reluctantly take the reins on the conversation.

“So how long exactly have you been a detective for?” L pretty much knew this about me, but he was always reluctant to share things about himself. I’d learnt that the best way was to just ask outright and hope for an answer that at least wasn’t monosyllabic.

“A while,” replied L, stirring more sugar into his second coffee. Yup, we’d been sat in painful silence for that long.

I sighed. It wasn’t monosyllabic, but it certainly wasn’t much better. Though I don’t really know what I’d been expecting. “That’s specific.”

He may not have always got my sarcasm, but in this instance, it wasn’t really difficult. He took a sip from his cup before placing it back on the table. “You already know that I prefer not to talk about myself. Yet you sound surprised?”

“That’s why I was trying to ask about work,” I said with a shrug. “I figured that way, we’d at least have some common ground.”

“Regardless, you’re still asking questions relating to my background.”

I sighed again. He never made it easy, did he? “Well, then what do you want to talk about?”

L looked thoughtful, but apparently, that thought didn’t really amount to anything. “I guess I don’t really know...”

Helpful. Very helpful. God, what I would have given to be doing this stakeout on my own.

The minutes passed and we fell back into silence. I didn’t try to start conversation again. I honestly didn’t care anymore if we looked suspicious or not by sitting here and not saying a word to each other. I didn’t think I’d ever felt more uncomfortable. Could things get any worse?

“Well, I’ll be damned... Never thought I’d see you back at this place.”

Why had I asked? That question always works as a total jinx. I turned in my seat, feeling a strong sense of trepidation, even though I knew who I’d be facing. There was absolutely no mistaking that Southern drawl.

Sure enough, I found Chet Sorbo stood behind me – a wickedly amused look on his handsome face. I’d gotten to know Chet during my second stint in Osaka before I’d returned to Kyoto to become freelance. He was an above-the-law bounty hunter. He was also my ex. You’d think this stuff only happened on TV, wouldn’t you?

“Chet!” I’d turned so quickly that I’d nearly tipped my chair over. “What are you...” I stopped mid question, reminding myself that Chet lived here. It wasn’t that unnatural to bump into him. More just sod’s law.

Chet grinned. “I should be the one asking you that. Especially after how much you complained about how terrible the hot chocolate was here last time.”

I shrugged, trying to sound casual. “Hence why I’m drink free right now.”

Chet’s grin widened and he looked past me towards L, who had several empty sachets of sugar scattered on the table in front of him. “Coffee here’s bitter as hell, huh?”

L nodded. “That’s one way to put it.”

Chet laughed. “So is this your new boyfriend that I gotta be jealous of, Gee?”

“Err...” I felt myself flush yet again today. Why was it always me who got stuck in embarrassing situations like this? Granted, Chet was the only guy I’d actually broken up with on good terms, but bumping into an ex is always awkward, no matter the break-up situation. Especially when you were supposedly out with another guy.

“Yes, I am,” L cut in, probably worried that I was going to blow the whole thing. Well, come on, I’d hardly anticipated something like this. And if anything, his input just made me feel even more embarrassed.

Thankfully, Chet didn’t notice anything odd. In fact, he seemed as good-natured as ever. “Nice to meet you, man. Name’s Chet.” He did one of those weird guy greetings – bumping his chest with his fist and then saluting with a peace sign – the kind of thing that only very few guys can actually get away with.

“I’m Ryu,” replied L.

Ryu? Was he trying to sound cool or something? Then to my absolute amazement, he actually tried to awkwardly copy the chest bump and salute move. I had to turn away and bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. What had just happened? This whole embarrassing situation was totally worth it just to have seen that.

“You alright there, Gee?” asked Chet.

I managed to compose myself enough to keep a straight face. “I’m fine,” I said unconvincingly.

Chet clearly misinterpreted my expression. “Oh, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things awkward or anything...”

“Oh, no, it’s not like that,” I said, even though I agreed that this was the very definition of awkward.

“It’s cool. Don’t worry,” Chet assured. “I’m just grabbin’ some coffee myself and I’ll be outta your hair.”

I raised my eyebrows. “This so-called bitter as hell coffee?”

He grinned in response. “Well, when you add a bit of Irish magic to it, it actually has a pretty good kick.”

I just rolled my eyes. Now that was why our relationship hadn’t lasted. I enjoyed a good drink now and then... Whereas Chet enjoyed a good drink at least three times a day. And he clearly still wasn’t ready to compromise on that. But it was fine. We’d accepted it early on and that’s why we’d ended on such good terms. Well... As good as can be when it comes to break-ups.

“I see you rollin’ your eyes at me there, missy. Remember, you don’t get a say anymore.” Chet waggled his finger at me, still grinning. “Oh, hey, did you get my present by the way? I wasn’t sure if it’d get to you in time.”

“Present?” I repeated, my mind automatically wandering towards the pretty perfume bottle that I’d gotten in the mail. From another ex. Urgh. Why was my love life so messed up?

“Y’know, the little hand-sized gadget that packs a pretty punch just like someone we all know?” Chet hinted.

Realisation dawned on me. “Are you talking about the gun?”

Chet’s face brightened. “So you did get it! Did you like it?”

I was flabbergasted. “Do you have any idea how dangerous and unethical it is to send me a gun in the post? Anybody could have gotten their hands on it!”

“Have I ever been ethical?” Chet pointed out, completely unfazed. “And it clearly got straight to you anyway, so no harm done.”

I settled for just shaking my head rather than commenting further. I guessed I couldn’t say that it wasn’t typical of him. Putting aside the fact that he was a bounty hunter, rules and regulations didn’t really mean anything to him and his devil-may-care attitude like they would to most people.

“And you didn’t answer the important question,” Chet pressed. “Did you like it?”

“Well, I haven’t used it yet,” I said. “I need to go and get it licensed first.”

“Nah, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Yes, I do,” I insisted. Just because he thought he was above the law didn’t mean that the rest of us felt that way. “Why exactly did you send me a gun anyway? You know I always use the Browning.”

“I happened to commandeer it a few weeks ago...” said Chet. I scoffed – ‘commandeer’ could only mean one thing. “But it’s too small; I look ridiculous with it. I figured it’d suit you much better.”

“Oh, thanks,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, you can always mail it back to me if you don’t want it,” Chet suggested, his eyes twinkling.

“No, I still want it,” I said somewhat childishly. It was true. I really had been itching to give it a try. But I wasn’t Chet – it definitely needed to be licensed first.

Chet laughed. “Then you’re welcome.”

I grinned back. “I’ll let you know what it can do when I get round to testing it out.”

“Excellent,” Chet beamed. He cracked his knuckles. “Right, I’m gonna go get me some caffeine, so I’ll catch you kids another time. Nice meeting you, Ryu.”

“Oh, you too,” replied L, a little taken aback by Chet’s cheery nature.

I supposed it was a little unusual. Most ex-boyfriends wouldn’t be altogether happy to meet the new supposed ‘boyfriend’. But that was just Chet. He was an all-around friendly guy. He was also the only guy I’d dated who’d never actively wronged me in any way. But I’d known my work life would be complicated enough once I’d become a detective – I wouldn’t have had the time to spare worrying over an alcoholic.

“Maybe we should go too,” I suggested once Chet had disappeared inside the coffee shop. I didn’t really want a repeat incident of this and it was starting to get late.

“Alright,” agreed L, getting up. “I guess I didn’t really expect to get any results already. We can try again tomorrow.”

“Exactly,” I said, following suit. I then grinned. “Let’s go then... Ryu.”

*

I admit that I didn’t really let go of the whole Ryu thing for the rest of the night. But then I was purposely looking for anything to occupy my mind with to stop myself from fretting over the whole sleeping arrangement. By now, everyone else had already gone to bed and since Grandpa slept downstairs – and could hear everything – we had no choice but to do the same.

“I don’t see what’s so funny about it,” said L, as we made our way up the stairs.

“You just seemed to be trying too hard to be cool,” I replied, still amused.

“I wasn’t trying to be anything. I was merely blending in.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure you were,” I muttered to myself. I opened the door to my room, feeling the awkwardness of the situation hit all of a sudden. Oh, man, this was not going to be fun. “Um, I’m just gonna go and get changed.”

“Alright,” said L, sounding as uninterested as always.

I quickly retrieved my new fruit-print pyjamas from my suitcase and hurried down the hallway to the bathroom so that I could change out of my clothes. I felt very edgy. I didn’t know whether I wanted to hurry or take my time. It was only when I’d spent two minutes trying to pull the pyjama bottoms over my head that I had to stop and tell myself to get a grip.

Why was I getting so worked up over this? It wasn’t like anything was going to happen. I was simply going to go to sleep and L most likely... wouldn’t. I doubted he’d even lie down, knowing him. He’d probably just sit up all night.

I managed to snap out of it by reminding myself that this was case related only and that I had to be professional about it. I’d let my feelings get in the way enough times already, but not anymore. I was going to be as good a detective as L was. Or at least not as weak-willed as I secretly wanted to be right now.

Once I managed to get the right clothes on the right body parts, I hastily brushed my teeth before returning to my bedroom. I couldn’t help but hesitate outside the door that L had shut behind me. Good luck with this one, Gee, I told myself ruefully.

Description
The drive to Osaka wasn’t exactly what you’d call comfortable. L wasn’t a great conversationalist at the best of times, but car drives really seem to be out of his comfort zone and he always clams up even more. And on top of the half-hour awkward silence, I was still freaking out over how this whole thing was going to work.

I was positive that somebody would either find out what we were up to or that something highly embarrassing would happen. The latter sounded a lot more likely, but hell, knowing my luck, I’d probably end up with both.

I’d never been so grateful to see the house that I’d grown up in. I parked on the side of the road behind my Auntie Maggie’s car. Cars weren’t all that necessary for me here. Most places I’d needed to go to were all within walking distance. That suited me quite well – I wanted to use my car as little as possible. Cars were a way to be identified.

“Well... here we are,” I said awkwardly after we’d gotten out of the car.

I’d already dragged my suitcase out of the trunk. L actually had a small duffel bag slung over his shoulder. I couldn’t help but wonder what was in it. I’d never seen him carry anything before. As far as I was concerned, all he owned was a single outfit, a cell phone and a laptop.

With the duffel bag and the hoody I’d forced him to wear, he could actually pass for a normal guy right now. Until he opened his mouth at least. Or tried sitting the way he usually preferred to. That would definitely be a dead giveaway that he was anything but normal.

“After you,” prompted L.

I wondered if he felt uncomfortable with this situation. Meeting families was always quite tense for anybody. But for L, rarely ever allowing anyone to see his face, it had to be really tough. Though of course, his expression was as impassive as always and I had no hope of knowing for sure.

Feeling quite nervous myself, I led the way down to the house. I felt like I really was introducing a real boyfriend to my family. And I realised then that I really did want my family to like L. I wanted them to appreciate him the way that I did. I wanted them to accept him.

I quickly scolded myself following that thought. I couldn’t think things like that. I had to keep viewing the situation from a professional angle. I couldn’t let myself believe it was real on any level or I was just going to end up feeling even more mixed up about L.

Sadly, that still wasn’t quite enough to calm my nerves and I rang the doorbell with a sense of trepidation. Thankfully, it was my mom who answered the door. She was easily the most normal one of the household.

“Gee-Gee!” She enveloped me in a big hug. “It feels like ages since I’ve seen you!”

“Hey, Mom...” I hugged her back, feeling a pang of sadness. Seeing her always reminded me how much I missed being with my family. I really needed to make the time to visit more often. I always let myself get bogged down with work too much.

She gave me a wide smile when she let go. “You changed your hair again! It makes me feel like you’re a teenager again – you were always dyeing your hair back then! It looks great though. Dark suits you.”

Well, that part of the plan had clearly been successful. She didn’t suspect a thing. Sakura Shidou had always known what it felt like to be plain, so she’d never begrudged me changing my style in an attempt to feel more comfortable. Funnily enough, the comfort part was a lot more important to me now than style. Hence why my hair was usually allowed to run wild. But not as wild as L’s, I might add. At least I actually brushed mine every day.

“I just fancied a change again,” I said casually. I grabbed L’s arm and pulled him forwards. If he didn’t introduce himself soon, then it was going to look rude. Looked like I had to step in and do it myself. “Mom, this is Ryuzaki.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” said L obligingly.

“The pleasure’s all mine. I’m Sakura,” Mom beamed. She didn’t give any indication that she thought L seemed unusual at all. Lucky strike number two. “Come on in. I’ll go make some coffee,” she decided as we followed her inside. “Ryuzaki, how do you take yours?”

“Black with eight sugars, thank you.”

Oh, good lord... Because that didn’t make him sound abnormal. I resisted the urge to kick him. Thankfully, Mom just laughed. “Alright then. Gee, do you want anything?”

“Anything fizzy,” I replied.

“I should have known,” said Mom, rolling her eyes. Hey, at least I wasn’t requesting energy drinks. She always chastised me for that particular habit.

“I’ll go take our stuff upstairs,” I said.

“Let me take that one,” L cut in, taking the suitcase from me. “Lead the way.”

“Err, it’s this way,” I said, vaguely pointing in the direction of the stairs as I stared at him. Since when had L ever offered to carry my things? Once we were out of earshot, I then hissed, “What are you doing?”

“Isn’t this the protocol for boyfriends?” L asked, completely oblivious.

“Not necessarily. It’s certainly not one I adhere to,” I pointed out. “I can carry my own suitcase.”

“As you wish then,” said L with a shrug, handing the suitcase back to me. Typical.

“You’ve gotta be careful,” I warned him as we reached the top of the stairs. “If you act like you don’t know me, then this isn’t gonna work. It’s gonna raise suspicions with my family – they already know what I do and don’t like guys trying to do for me.”

L stopped beside me. “Alright. So what do I need to know?”

I hesitated. That wasn’t exactly easy to say. How did you describe yourself, along with your wants and needs, to somebody else? And this certainly wasn’t a conversation we could really have on the landing when my family were waiting downstairs for us.

“Later,” I said, opening the door to my old bedroom. “Just try not to say too much for now. If they think you’re shy, then they won’t find that unusual.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Well, at least he knew he wasn’t the world’s best conversationalist.

I ditched the suitcase just inside the door and told L to do the same with his duffel bag. He was busy looking around the room already. “Come on, let’s get back downstairs,” I said, tugging on his sleeve. There would certainly be time for the awkward tour later on.

Mom was just finishing making the drinks when we got down to the kitchen. Auntie Maggie and Grandpa were already sat at the table with drinks of their own. They both looked up when we entered the room. Christ on a bike, here we go...

“Gee!” Auntie Maggie leapt out of her chair when she saw me and ran over to give me a hug. Ever exuberant – she was more like a big sister than an aunt. “Love the new hair! How have you been keeping?”

“Busy, as always,” I replied truthfully. “How about you?”

“Oh, you know, always partying,” she grinned.

“You wish,” Mom added.

Auntie Maggie rolled her eyes at her. “Saki keeps trying to say I’m ‘too old’ to party now, but of course we never listen to her.”

“I’m sure,” I smiled.

Auntie Maggie was a lot of things, but she could certainly never be described as old. But then my mom was a bit of a wallflower type when it came to parties herself, so she probably would say something like that. I’d like to say I follow in those footsteps of hers, but I’m actually a bit of a nutter when I’m drunk... Yeah, I guess you all know about that already.

“So are you going to introduce us to your friend?” Auntie Maggie asked knowingly, looking over my shoulder at L.

“Oh, yeah. This is Ryuzaki.” I dragged L forward again. I knew he’d be uncomfortable with a situation like this, but he was kinda overdoing the whole ‘shy’ thing. Did I have to do everything for him? “Ryuzaki, this is my Auntie Maggie.”

L gave her a rather awkward nod. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Then, to my absolute amazement, Auntie Maggie grabbed him in a hug as well. “Well, aren’t you cute! It’s nice to meet you too!”

Oh, great, he was going to think we were a family of spontaneous huggers... Though if I was taken aback, I’m sure it was nothing compared to how L was feeling. He wasn’t easy to surprise, but I could see it on his face right now. I had to actually bite back a laugh. It was really quite comical.

But that didn’t mean that Auntie Maggie got to have all the fun. I had to physically pull him away from her. “Okay, you don’t have to smother him.”

“No need to get jealous, Gee-Gee,” Auntie Maggie teased with another grin. I flushed in spite of myself.

“Very funny,” I said dryly, in an attempt to cover my embarrassment. “Err, why don’t we sit down...” I directed L over to sit next to my grandpa, who had been quiet so far. It was certainly safer than sitting him next to Auntie Maggie. “This is my grandpa, Yoshi.”

Grandpa gave L a curt nod as he sat down. Thankfully, he did it in a normal fashion for once. “Pleasure.”

“You too,” replied L. He was probably relieved that my grandpa was more composed than the female side of the family.

I sat down opposite them, besides the chair that Auntie Maggie had just vacated. “So how’s it going, old man?”

“Oh, you know how it is. Have to suffer this rowdy lot every day of my life.” He jabbed a thumb towards Auntie Maggie, who had just re-claimed her seat. “And by rowdy lot, I mean her.”

Auntie Maggie just beamed at him, ignoring the jibe. We all knew that Yoshi Shidou actually had a huge soft spot for the wacky redhead, even if he never openly admitted it. “Don’t listen to him. He’s been grumpy ever since your birthday. He really didn’t expect you to get one over on him this time.”

Realisation dawned on me. “Of course, the clock! Well, tough luck, old man, I happened to have a certain brainbox helping me out on that one.”

I grinned and winked in L’s direction before I even realised what I was doing. Aww, crap, was I really flirting that openly with him now? I guessed I’d always just been used to banter flowing so easily amongst my family. Just being in an environment with them again was clearly making it rub off on me already.

Thankfully, nobody else seemed to notice. I don’t think even L did. That or he just wasn’t letting on. But then I most certainly wouldn’t have put that past him.

“Ah, so you’re familiar with the Chinese superstition then?” Grandpa asked L.

“Yes,” replied L. “I have some extended family from China.”

No wonder it was always so hard to tell when he was lying. He’d done it so smoothly that it was impossible to know the difference. If I hadn’t known any different, then I would have believed him too. But then, for all I knew, this was the truth and what he’d told me yesterday had been the lie... Urgh. Sometimes I felt like we’d been brought together on this case just for him to mess with my head.

It was probably better if I didn’t think about it. “So does this mean I get my real present now?” I directed the subject change at my grandpa.

“I suppose,” he grumbled. “If you can find it.”

“What; I have to do treasure hunts as well as riddles now?”

“Don’t worry; it’s only on my dresser,” Auntie Maggie cut in. “He just clearly can’t be bothered to go upstairs and get it.”

“Terrible,” I teased, shaking my head theatrically.

That was the other great thing about my grandpa’s method of gift giving – besides the obvious challenge that they usually posed – it meant that I always had at least one present to still look forward to even after my birthday was over. But I’d wait until later for this one. Probably better not to leave L alone with my family just yet. Even if it was only for a minute or two.

But of course, everyone seemed to like foiling my plans lately. “Why don’t you run and grab it?” Mom suggested as she started pouring out the hot drinks. “You’ve earned it fair and square, like always.”

“Err...” I looked towards L, as if I was asking him permission. Well, he was the one who’d suffer from this after all.

But since he’d been a surprisingly good sport with all of this, he simply said, “It’s fine.”

At least I didn’t have to feel guilty about leaving him in their clutches then, I thought to myself as I made my way up the stairs a second time. Particularly Auntie Maggie’s. I went through the first door on my right into her and my mom’s bedroom.

Since I’d moved out, Auntie Maggie could have easily just had my old room to herself. But she always insisted that sharing with my mom was more fun. Mom had never done college or university and had never had a roommate before, so she’d always been just as up for the idea. It was no wonder I had a childish side of my own after growing up with such wacky role models.

I found a gift bag on top of the dresser, like Auntie Maggie had said. Inside it was a fully pose-able Freddy Krueger action figure. I smiled to myself. Nice one, old man. This would look pretty awesome next to the bust I had in my toy corner back home. Better put him with my stuff so that I didn’t forget him once this ‘visit’ was over.

I took Freddy back through to my room and laid him on top of my suitcase. At least that way I’d be sure to remember him. I straightened up and looked around. I’d moved out of here when I was eighteen to go to a better university in Kyoto, but I’d come back for a short period when I’d quit the police force after the whole Teddy Harper ordeal.

I’d only been here for a month or two before I’d wanted to be up and doing something again. I’d had a boyfriend during that time who had certainly helped with the grieving stage, but that relationship had only been short-lived. And by that stage, I’d decided to return to Kyoto once more and do what I’d always dreamed of – becoming an independent detective.

I mostly had good memories of being here, so coming back always made me feel nostalgic. It hadn’t changed much since I’d lived here. There were still a few old posters tacked to the walls – The Cranberries, Back To The Future, Weekend At Bernie’s... There was an empty space above my bed where my signed Tears For Fears one had been. That was the only one that I’d consented to taking with me to Kyoto.

Mom had even left my old Betty Boop bedspread on. I’d never really been a Betty Boop fan like Auntie Maggie had, but I’d always liked her colour scheme. Red was my second favourite colour after green. And it certainly fit the theme I had going on in here. Red on red.

Seeing the bedspread reminded me that I needed to go and get the sleeping bag still. I’d already decided that I’d use that myself and let L have the bed. As an insomniac, he probably wasn’t going to sleep very much, but at least the bed would be comfier than the floor. And he could still sleep then if he wanted to. God knows what he’d actually do during the night time hours... But we’d already agreed that he’d have to stay in my room until morning to keep the pretence up. I knew my family would find it weird if they caught him roaming about the house in the middle of the night.

I decided to grab the sleeping bag whilst I was still upstairs, so I went back out onto the landing and sought out the airing cupboard. The sleeping bag didn’t seem to be in there. I searched through the entire cupboard, but there was definitely no sleeping bag. That was strange. Maybe someone had already taken it out.

I peeked back into Mom and Auntie Maggie’s room again, but it wasn’t in there either. I didn’t know where else it would be, so I figured I’d just go downstairs and ask. I was grateful to see that L had survived whatever had happened after I’d gone upstairs. He actually seemed more interested in his coffee than anything else.

“Hey, has anyone seen the sleeping bag?” I asked, hovering in the doorway.

“Oh, I lent it to Minagi the other day,” Auntie Maggie replied.

“Wait, what?”

“Her boys are going camping with the school,” she explained, oblivious to my sudden panic. “She only had the one, so it saves her having to buy another just for one trip.”

I chanced a nervous look at L, but he still didn’t seem to be paying attention. Didn’t he realise that this was going to affect him as much as it did me? Crap. I’d known this trip was going to be embarrassing as hell. I wondered if it would come across as weird if I went and bought another sleeping bag before tonight.

If I looked at it from my family’s point of view, then the answer was yes. When had I ever used a sleeping bag just because I had a boyfriend staying over? And my family were clearly happy to confirm that. “Don’t look so freaked out,” said Auntie Maggie. “What do you need a sleeping bag for anyway?”

“You’re an adult, Gee,” Mom added. “We’ve never had an issue with you having anyone stay over before. You don’t need to start worrying about that now. You know the rules still. It’s fine – just remember that it’s your grandpa’s house.”

Which was basically their way of saying that whilst I was under Grandpa’s roof I was okay to share my bed as long as there was nothing else involved. I didn’t think it was possible to blush any deeper. Did anybody else’s families talk this casually about sex in front of their boyfriends? Or pretend boyfriends at that?

“And I’m sure Ryuzaki won’t mind bed sharing,” Auntie Maggie grinned, winking at L.

Okay. I was wrong. I felt more colour rush into my cheeks, made even worse by L finally looking up from his coffee and monotonously agreeing, “That won’t be a problem.”

What? I wanted to reach over the table and give him a good shake. I stared at him with wide eyes. What did he mean ‘won’t be a problem’? This was still L, wasn’t it? The guy who avoided human contact as much as possible?

I knew he was going along with it for the sake of keeping up the pretence of our false relationship so that we could work freely from here without raising any suspicions, but I’d been hoping he’d use those supposed genius detective skills to come out with some magical solution to the sleeping situation. Unfortunately, no such luck.

Number one detective, my ass. I sure hoped he knew what he was getting us into.

*

As soon as the first opportunity came up, I excused both myself and L, saying that we were going to spend the afternoon around town. Technically, that wasn’t even a lie.

After we’d gotten away from the house – I’d left my car behind; again grateful that everywhere was easy to get to on foot around here and that I had one less thing to worry about for once – we’d agreed to go and see Shen first before anything else. He’d told me a lot of the details on the phone the other day, but I still wanted to speak to him first hand. I still had more questions. And the longer I could go without having to think of the foreboding sleeping arrangements, the better.

Once we’d made the decision, I’d called ahead to give Shen the heads up that we were coming. He was there to meet us at the door when we got to the morgue and happily let us both in. His greeting to me was a simple pat on the shoulder, despite how long it had been since we’d last seen each other. He had a keep-your-distance rule much like L did. I’d often joked that he preferred handling dead people to live people.

Shen got straight down to business once I’d made the introductions between him and L. And they’d been pretty painful to watch, at that. They’d merely nodded at each other. Yeesh, how did I keep finding these social recluses?

“So I get the feeling I’ve stumbled onto something important,” Shen stated, rather than asked.

I nodded. “We’re already investigating the death of Sunae Michishio. Hopefully, this will be the next step to finding out just who murdered her and stole her identity.”

I didn’t add about any of the other murders. I trusted Shen completely, but it was just a basic detective rule – never share more than you need to. If it wasn’t relevant, then nobody else needed to know. The less people linked to a dangerous case, the better. That was how it always worked.

“In that case, I’m glad to have passed the information along,” said Shen dutifully. “Is there anything else in particular that you need to know?”

“Can you tell us the exact time, or the closest estimation, that Ms. Michishio’s credit card was used?” L asked.

“I’m not aware of an exact time,” Shen confessed. “But my best estimation is that it was on Friday 30th at roughly three in the afternoon.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall opposite. It was already past that time now. If our identity thief happened to frequent the same store again, would they follow a similar pattern? Or was that too much to hope for? Either way, the day still wasn’t old just yet. “And it was the Nisa store in the Kanan area, right? Close to Nagai Park?”

“That’s the one,” Shen confirmed.

“Do you have any idea what was bought with the credit card?” I asked. It likely wouldn’t be relevant, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt either.

Shen shook his head. “I really wasn’t given many details. I was just asked to check the death records and given the reason why.”

“Who was it who asked you to check the death records?” questioned L.

“Superintendent Imadori. He’s the head of our police branch,” said Shen.

Damn, so there were already police involved. Did that mean there was a chance that Gibson knew about this too? Somehow, I had a feeling he wouldn’t be very happy to find out that we were already up here and investigating after he’d closed the case. “So the police are already investigating this now?”

“Not necessarily,” replied Shen.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Sunae Michishio’s name flagged up as an alert since she’d been listed as a possible victim of identity fraud,” Shen explained. “But because she was murdered outside of Osaka, the police here don’t have the level of complete jurisdiction that they’d like. Since it’s fraud, they’re obliged to have it checked out – which is why they asked me to look into the death records – but without the right jurisdiction, they’ll class it as a low priority. It’ll probably be a few days before they even follow it up any further.”

Huh. Well, that was something good at least. We still had a little bit of time to try and find some clues ourselves before the police started investigating this as well. And hopefully, they wouldn’t have informed the police back in Kyoto about it yet. At least not until they’d had Shen confirm the validity of the death records.

“So why exactly did you call me?” I had to ask. “Wouldn’t you normally have called the police in Kyoto in this kind of situation?”

“Normally, yes,” Shen agreed. “It was mostly the fact that the woman was murdered in Kyoto. I figured I’d just try you first to see if you’d heard anything about it. And you know even better than I do that you should always follow your whims.”

Tell me about it. “Still, though... You’ve met Gibson before. You know that he generally has the best clue of what’s going on in Kyoto. Better than me anyway.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” L interrupted. “After all, you found out about this case yourself very early on. Especially since it was supposed to be kept secret from anyone outside of the police force.”

Wow, was he actually commending me? That really didn’t happen very often. I almost felt a little cheap that I’d only found out about the case through using my so-called womanly charms on Chad. Though I guessed as long as it got the job done, then any trick of the trade was viable enough. “Err, I guess...” I was still a little thrown that he’d come close to complimenting me.

“Well, like I said, it was just a hunch,” Shen added. “But from the looks of it, I was spot on if I’ve touched onto a case that you’re already working.”

“Yeah. I guess it really is our case.” From the beginning of this whole thing, it had just been me trying to jump in on a case that the police were working. But now, it really was mine and L’s case.

“Gibson close early?” Shen guessed. He’d worked alongside the police in Kyoto enough times to know how Gibson’s mind worked.

I nodded. “We weren’t really in the same mind,” I said, indicating L as well as myself. “So we wanted to try and follow up on a few more things.”

“And there you go. Proving your hunches right, just like I said,” Shen pointed out, looking satisfied.

I smiled. “How do you think I got this far?” So much of my work as a detective came down to whims and lucky guesses that it was a little scary.

“And you’ll go farther still,” Shen smiled back. “Anyway, I hope all this was of some help to you. I wish I could have offered more information...”

“No, no, what you’ve told us has already given us more to go on than what we had originally,” I assured him. “Thank you, really.”

“Yes. You’ve been a great help,” agreed L.

“Well, I hope you’ve enough to solve this,” said Shen. “If I hear of anything else, then I’ll pass it along to you straightaway.”

We thanked Shen again before leaving. Having a more specific time on when Sunae Michishio’s card was used at least gave us a better idea of the situation. Not to mention it gave us something more concrete to work around. With that information, we could hopefully find out more about what staff had been working then and maybe even what sort of customers frequented the store around that time of day.

We headed straight from the morgue down to the Nisa convenience store in Kanan. It wasn’t too far – only about a twenty minute walk. And for once, I was too busy mulling things over to care about the awkward silence between me and L that I usually tried so desperately to break.

When we got to the store, it was obvious that we needed to decide carefully on our next step. Did we just go straight into the store? Or did we hold off on that for now in case our identity thief really was still hanging around and we raised suspicions? We’d likely have a few days of stakeout ahead of us, so now that the store was in our sights, we needed to plan this out properly.

“Here, let’s go over there for now,” I directed. I took L’s arm and directed him over to an empty bus stop a little way down from the store. At least we could stand there and discuss without it looking unnatural, rather than just stopping in the middle of the street.

I noticed L glance down at my hand on his arm. Oops. I guessed I had started to get a bit more hands-on with him recently, particularly since we’d gotten to Osaka. I sure hoped I wasn’t subconsciously starting to buy into the whole boyfriend thing myself.

I quickly let go, feeling sheepish. “Err, sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“It’s fine,” L assured. “It doesn’t bother me.”

Didn’t bother him? Wait, did that mean that it was okay? Was he actually giving me permission to be more touchy-feely? Surely he couldn’t be – I must have been reading into it too much. Either way, I didn’t quite feel brave enough to try and find out. And L seemed more interested in the other issue at hand.

“I don’t think we should go into the store today at least,” he said. “We’ve only just got here and this is a small town. Disguises or not, it may become apparent to some people that we’re not from around here. We don’t want it to be obvious that this is our first move upon coming into town.”

“Right,” I agreed. And knowing my luck, we’d probably run into someone I knew. I would not be impressed if our cover was blown after all this. “But I think we should still try and stake out the place from outside whilst we’re here. Even if it’s just for an hour or so.”

“I agree,” said L. He looked up and down the road before deciding on a place we could spy from. For a second, he moved his hand like he was going to take my arm, mimicking my earlier action, but then he seemed to think better of it and just pointed the direction instead. “Back up this way.”

I followed his lead, trying hard not to think about the possibility that maybe he was starting to become more comfortable around me. I managed to ignore it by mentally telling myself that I was being stupid and that it was just wishful thinking on my part.

L had chosen an old-fashioned coffee shop that was on the opposite side of the road to the Nisa convenience store. It was closer to the bus stop we’d just been stood at than the store itself, but we’d still be able to see what we needed to from there. Even better, there were some tables set up outside complete with parasols. We even had cover if we needed it. The only downside was that I’d actually been to this coffee shop before... So I knew that it had notoriously bad hot chocolate.

Under the pretence of looking at the sign listing the rather poor cake menu, we were able to judge which table would give us the best view. And once we’d angled the parasol better, we weren’t all that noticeable ourselves. Now this was a good turn of events that we’d been waiting for.

L stocked up with coffee for the task. I decided that it would be safer for my taste buds if I abstained. It didn’t take long to realise that I’d made the wrong decision. At least terrible hot chocolate would have been a distraction. I thought the drive up to Osaka had been awkward, but it was nothing compared to doing stakeout with L.

The worst part was that it couldn’t be awkward. If we wanted to sit here for a long time and not look suspicious, then we were going to have to do a bit more than sitting in supposed companionable silence. Unfortunately, I seemed to be the only one who’d realised this, so I had to reluctantly take the reins on the conversation.

“So how long exactly have you been a detective for?” L pretty much knew this about me, but he was always reluctant to share things about himself. I’d learnt that the best way was to just ask outright and hope for an answer that at least wasn’t monosyllabic.

“A while,” replied L, stirring more sugar into his second coffee. Yup, we’d been sat in painful silence for that long.

I sighed. It wasn’t monosyllabic, but it certainly wasn’t much better. Though I don’t really know what I’d been expecting. “That’s specific.”

He may not have always got my sarcasm, but in this instance, it wasn’t really difficult. He took a sip from his cup before placing it back on the table. “You already know that I prefer not to talk about myself. Yet you sound surprised?”

“That’s why I was trying to ask about work,” I said with a shrug. “I figured that way, we’d at least have some common ground.”

“Regardless, you’re still asking questions relating to my background.”

I sighed again. He never made it easy, did he? “Well, then what do you want to talk about?”

L looked thoughtful, but apparently, that thought didn’t really amount to anything. “I guess I don’t really know...”

Helpful. Very helpful. God, what I would have given to be doing this stakeout on my own.

The minutes passed and we fell back into silence. I didn’t try to start conversation again. I honestly didn’t care anymore if we looked suspicious or not by sitting here and not saying a word to each other. I didn’t think I’d ever felt more uncomfortable. Could things get any worse?

“Well, I’ll be damned... Never thought I’d see you back at this place.”

Why had I asked? That question always works as a total jinx. I turned in my seat, feeling a strong sense of trepidation, even though I knew who I’d be facing. There was absolutely no mistaking that Southern drawl.

Sure enough, I found Chet Sorbo stood behind me – a wickedly amused look on his handsome face. I’d gotten to know Chet during my second stint in Osaka before I’d returned to Kyoto to become freelance. He was an above-the-law bounty hunter. He was also my ex. You’d think this stuff only happened on TV, wouldn’t you?

“Chet!” I’d turned so quickly that I’d nearly tipped my chair over. “What are you...” I stopped mid question, reminding myself that Chet lived here. It wasn’t that unnatural to bump into him. More just sod’s law.

Chet grinned. “I should be the one asking you that. Especially after how much you complained about how terrible the hot chocolate was here last time.”

I shrugged, trying to sound casual. “Hence why I’m drink free right now.”

Chet’s grin widened and he looked past me towards L, who had several empty sachets of sugar scattered on the table in front of him. “Coffee here’s bitter as hell, huh?”

L nodded. “That’s one way to put it.”

Chet laughed. “So is this your new boyfriend that I gotta be jealous of, Gee?”

“Err...” I felt myself flush yet again today. Why was it always me who got stuck in embarrassing situations like this? Granted, Chet was the only guy I’d actually broken up with on good terms, but bumping into an ex is always awkward, no matter the break-up situation. Especially when you were supposedly out with another guy.

“Yes, I am,” L cut in, probably worried that I was going to blow the whole thing. Well, come on, I’d hardly anticipated something like this. And if anything, his input just made me feel even more embarrassed.

Thankfully, Chet didn’t notice anything odd. In fact, he seemed as good-natured as ever. “Nice to meet you, man. Name’s Chet.” He did one of those weird guy greetings – bumping his chest with his fist and then saluting with a peace sign – the kind of thing that only very few guys can actually get away with.

“I’m Ryu,” replied L.

Ryu? Was he trying to sound cool or something? Then to my absolute amazement, he actually tried to awkwardly copy the chest bump and salute move. I had to turn away and bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. What had just happened? This whole embarrassing situation was totally worth it just to have seen that.

“You alright there, Gee?” asked Chet.

I managed to compose myself enough to keep a straight face. “I’m fine,” I said unconvincingly.

Chet clearly misinterpreted my expression. “Oh, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things awkward or anything...”

“Oh, no, it’s not like that,” I said, even though I agreed that this was the very definition of awkward.

“It’s cool. Don’t worry,” Chet assured. “I’m just grabbin’ some coffee myself and I’ll be outta your hair.”

I raised my eyebrows. “This so-called bitter as hell coffee?”

He grinned in response. “Well, when you add a bit of Irish magic to it, it actually has a pretty good kick.”

I just rolled my eyes. Now that was why our relationship hadn’t lasted. I enjoyed a good drink now and then... Whereas Chet enjoyed a good drink at least three times a day. And he clearly still wasn’t ready to compromise on that. But it was fine. We’d accepted it early on and that’s why we’d ended on such good terms. Well... As good as can be when it comes to break-ups.

“I see you rollin’ your eyes at me there, missy. Remember, you don’t get a say anymore.” Chet waggled his finger at me, still grinning. “Oh, hey, did you get my present by the way? I wasn’t sure if it’d get to you in time.”

“Present?” I repeated, my mind automatically wandering towards the pretty perfume bottle that I’d gotten in the mail. From another ex. Urgh. Why was my love life so messed up?

“Y’know, the little hand-sized gadget that packs a pretty punch just like someone we all know?” Chet hinted.

Realisation dawned on me. “Are you talking about the gun?”

Chet’s face brightened. “So you did get it! Did you like it?”

I was flabbergasted. “Do you have any idea how dangerous and unethical it is to send me a gun in the post? Anybody could have gotten their hands on it!”

“Have I ever been ethical?” Chet pointed out, completely unfazed. “And it clearly got straight to you anyway, so no harm done.”

I settled for just shaking my head rather than commenting further. I guessed I couldn’t say that it wasn’t typical of him. Putting aside the fact that he was a bounty hunter, rules and regulations didn’t really mean anything to him and his devil-may-care attitude like they would to most people.

“And you didn’t answer the important question,” Chet pressed. “Did you like it?”

“Well, I haven’t used it yet,” I said. “I need to go and get it licensed first.”

“Nah, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Yes, I do,” I insisted. Just because he thought he was above the law didn’t mean that the rest of us felt that way. “Why exactly did you send me a gun anyway? You know I always use the Browning.”

“I happened to commandeer it a few weeks ago...” said Chet. I scoffed – ‘commandeer’ could only mean one thing. “But it’s too small; I look ridiculous with it. I figured it’d suit you much better.”

“Oh, thanks,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, you can always mail it back to me if you don’t want it,” Chet suggested, his eyes twinkling.

“No, I still want it,” I said somewhat childishly. It was true. I really had been itching to give it a try. But I wasn’t Chet – it definitely needed to be licensed first.

Chet laughed. “Then you’re welcome.”

I grinned back. “I’ll let you know what it can do when I get round to testing it out.”

“Excellent,” Chet beamed. He cracked his knuckles. “Right, I’m gonna go get me some caffeine, so I’ll catch you kids another time. Nice meeting you, Ryu.”

“Oh, you too,” replied L, a little taken aback by Chet’s cheery nature.

I supposed it was a little unusual. Most ex-boyfriends wouldn’t be altogether happy to meet the new supposed ‘boyfriend’. But that was just Chet. He was an all-around friendly guy. He was also the only guy I’d dated who’d never actively wronged me in any way. But I’d known my work life would be complicated enough once I’d become a detective – I wouldn’t have had the time to spare worrying over an alcoholic.

“Maybe we should go too,” I suggested once Chet had disappeared inside the coffee shop. I didn’t really want a repeat incident of this and it was starting to get late.

“Alright,” agreed L, getting up. “I guess I didn’t really expect to get any results already. We can try again tomorrow.”

“Exactly,” I said, following suit. I then grinned. “Let’s go then... Ryu.”

*

I admit that I didn’t really let go of the whole Ryu thing for the rest of the night. But then I was purposely looking for anything to occupy my mind with to stop myself from fretting over the whole sleeping arrangement. By now, everyone else had already gone to bed and since Grandpa slept downstairs – and could hear everything – we had no choice but to do the same.

“I don’t see what’s so funny about it,” said L, as we made our way up the stairs.

“You just seemed to be trying too hard to be cool,” I replied, still amused.

“I wasn’t trying to be anything. I was merely blending in.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure you were,” I muttered to myself. I opened the door to my room, feeling the awkwardness of the situation hit all of a sudden. Oh, man, this was not going to be fun. “Um, I’m just gonna go and get changed.”

“Alright,” said L, sounding as uninterested as always.

I quickly retrieved my new fruit-print pyjamas from my suitcase and hurried down the hallway to the bathroom so that I could change out of my clothes. I felt very edgy. I didn’t know whether I wanted to hurry or take my time. It was only when I’d spent two minutes trying to pull the pyjama bottoms over my head that I had to stop and tell myself to get a grip.

Why was I getting so worked up over this? It wasn’t like anything was going to happen. I was simply going to go to sleep and L most likely... wouldn’t. I doubted he’d even lie down, knowing him. He’d probably just sit up all night.

I managed to snap out of it by reminding myself that this was case related only and that I had to be professional about it. I’d let my feelings get in the way enough times already, but not anymore. I was going to be as good a detective as L was. Or at least not as weak-willed as I secretly wanted to be right now.

Once I managed to get the right clothes on the right body parts, I hastily brushed my teeth before returning to my bedroom. I couldn’t help but hesitate outside the door that L had shut behind me. Good luck with this one, Gee, I told myself ruefully.