*Kirigiri didn’t make a move to grab the tea once it had been brought in – but she watched the woman curiously and said a polite “thank you” when the tray had been set down. She eyed the woman as she left, and once gone, she turned her attention to the other detective once more.*
As you were saying, Hakuba-san?
Hakuba waited until the door finished closing with an audible click, leaving the two to their privacy. They would not be interrupted again for at least two hours, as per usual procedure. The blonde detective checked his watch to take note of the time, then leaned forward again to begin preparing the tea for himself and his guest.
“Thank you for your patience,” he said at first. “Where was I… ah, the topic of conversation.”
Truthfully, Hakuba did not want to explain what they’d been discussing, nor to divulge any of the secrets that the Osakan had managed to uncover that night. But now that another detective had been involved, he knew it would be wise to be forthcoming. After all, evasiveness only hindered accurate deduction and wasted time – which was a crime in and of itself.
“From what I recall, the majority of our discussion was foolish name-calling and a ridiculous amount of focus on my heritage and his behavior.” While that was true, it wasn’t exactly accurate either. Hakuba bit his lip, then poured water into the cups.
“Somehow, Hattori-san managed to uncover the fact that I am, in fact, a practicing Christian – at least by some definition of such – and made it a point to reprimand me for my personal and private beliefs. Of which he really knows nothing about. I have no intentions of making this knowledge commonly available, so you’ll have to forgive me if I ask you to keep that on a need to know basis only.”
Hakuba set the kettle down on the table a little too hard to be silent, which startled him. “If it hadn’t been for the cursed Japanese weather, he wouldn’t have found out in the first place! Why had I not thought to bring an umbrella?”