Kaito pretendet not to notice the awkwardness and instead gave off the impression that this was exactly what he expected Hakuba to do. He had a body model on his form and simply sketched in the part the detective had pointed at on himself. He put a little one next to it and circled a few lines of writing he already jotted down on the form before and wrote a small one next to that as well.
“I’m very sorry for your loss, Hakuba-san.” He said quietly after hearing that the detective was close to the victim. And he nodded with a small smile after hearing that the son was saved.
“Actually you may skip the whole medical diagnoses they told you. I’ve read them already. I’d rather want to know how you experienced it and how you felt. Because for my line of work the medical terms may be nice to know, but I don’t want to treat a diagnosis. I’m planning to treat you and help you to get back to daily business. Ailments don’t know what make you feel comfortable.”
“Ah, right…” Hakuba didn’t want to thank him for the apology – didn’t even want to think about it – so he moved on. Every time he’d had to explain the situation, it brought up far too many vivid memories, and feeling that loss all over again wasn’t something that he wanted to do. Not ever, really, much less in front of his former classmate and rival.
Swallowing, he attempted to concentrate on the task at hand. “Well, ah, at the time of the injury I was really only thinking about the case. Tunnel vision, you know… we detectives are so predictable that way. I think I must have made it worse, though, by moving despite the injury, but it was necessary. Ah…”
He tried to remember what sort of relevant information he could provide, teeth gritting. “Pain, obviously. Surgery. Er, though, when it happened it was sort of like… well, the imagery I can come up with is like chopping wood, I suppose? Only, once you first get the axe in, you use dynamite to finish the job.” Hakuba coughed. “I still can’t put any weight on it, and it aches quite often. Almost constantly, actually.”
Glancing back down at his leg, Hakuba made a face as if to chastise the injury, then heaved a helpless sigh. “Stiff, too. I followed the last therapist’s recommendations to the letter, I think, but it’s to the point where I can hardly sleep, and crutches are terribly inconvenient, and… I just… How am I supposed to chase Kaitou Kid like this?”
It was meant to be a joke to ease the tension, but even so, he couldn’t help the sly little grin and challenging glance at Kaito immediately after.