It would be a big help if you could do that, Hakuba-san, thank you.
And he didn’t say what it was – I had admittedly been interrogating him a bit much at that point so I didn’t want to force anymore stress onto him… From the look of his composure, however, it wasn’t something good. He had gotten a phone call and became extremely tense. He left almost immediately after that in a rush.
“I will do so, then, as soon as I can.” Hakuba frowned, brows furrowing in concern. “This is all a tad… alarming, I suppose, to put it lightly.” Lightly? Incredible understatement. The male detective sighed, leaning forward to set his tea cup down again, then his phone.
“I wonder what he’s gotten himself mixed up in- if anything. Hattori Heiji is many annoying things, but I can’t imagine him… Well, he…"
But then, he had attacked Hakuba when provoked. And Hakuba himself was only an obnoxious gnat when compared to, say, an actual criminal. If someone really wanted to hurt Hattori, it would be easy to pin him by the trigger and get blackmail evidence of his behavior. Had something like..? No… No, Hattori was a brute but he was no murderer. He could have killed him if he’d decided to, but he hadn’t. No…
"No, there must be more to it. I’ll start at the hospital, then revisit the scene. What will your next step be, Kirigiri-san?"