“Justified: To demonstrate or prove to be just, right, or valid; To declare free of blame; absolve; and/or: To free (a human) of the guilt and penalty attached to grievous sin. I have nothing more to say."
Hate Date in Osaka
He sniggered. “Yeah, Osaka can be pretty confusin’ fer first-timers.“ He practically lit up when Hakuba asked him about food, though. “Oh, there’re some great places ‘round here! There’s this great okonomiyaki restaurant a li’l ways away. ‘Course, they don’t have coffee, but their toasted green tea’s pretty good.”
“I’ve, ah, been here before…” Hakuba said quietly to correct the error, but abandoned it in favor of the Osakan’s new enthusiasm. He blinked. Took a breath to steel himself, then nodded.
“Ah, green tea is just fine. More than adequate, actually. Okonomiyaki… is like a Japanese pancake, right? Seafood?” He looked skyward, thoughtfully. “I… think I’ve had that before. And it’s, ah, good stuff, huh?”
Hate Date in Osaka
Heiji stared at Hakuba’s befuddlement, not expecting that. He’d expected a condescending greeting, or just flat-out ignoring, but a polite request? Especially after their last run-in? It really threw him for a loop.
“Er, no. It’s in th’ complete opposite direction an’,” he called up a mental map of Osaka, which only took him a few seconds, “I think ya got off two stations too late. Ya’ll wanna take th’ subway back ta…" He continued on, giving Hakuba directions to the library with no animosity attached. Later, he’d probably look back on this meeting with even more confusion.
More frowning. Hakuba nodded as he listened to Heiji’s directions, taking mental notes of where he would need to go in order to get where he needed to be.
“Huh. I’m… really not sure how I got so turned around. Thank you, Hattori-san."
He looked toward the direction of where he should be headed, then rubbed the side of his face with a hand, tiredly.
"Ah, Hattori-san, if I could trouble you again… before I head out that way, could you point me in the direction of somewhere nearby to get some food? And coffee, perhaps. I’d meant to stop by a cafe on the way there, but still have a ways to go it seems."
The stream of questions pulled a quiet snort from Kaito’s lips and he stopped, glancing over his shoulder at Hakuba, before briefly directing his gaze to the muted TV. The rather terrible action movie he’d been watching before the detective came knocking was still showing, but, thankfully, it seemed to be nearing the end.
“Not really. Just the only thing on right now that caught my attention, I guess,” he shrugged.
And then a wide, sly grin stretched across his face as he turned to fully face Hakuba, hand stretched out in an expectant manner. “And I think I’ll take you up on that offer about your credit card now, if you don’t mind.“
Oho, the things he could do with that thing~
"What soda do you want? I’ve got tea in the kitchen, if that’s more your thing though.”
“Ha ha- you think I’m that naive? No. I’ll hold on to the card until you need it to pay for the pizza, and then you may borrow it for only as long as it takes to read the numbers over the phone or enter them in on your computer. And then you will hand it back to me. And while I do know that you have eidetic memory, I expect you to be respectful and not abuse it.”
Rant over, Hakuba considered for a moment, approaching the living room while scouting out a place to put his duffel down.
“Ah, do they have rootbeer? We don’t get that in England so much… I’ve always wanted to try it."
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fuzzykitty01: heronswing: Hey Crime fiction writers. Here’s an oft-cited reference chart to show you what different bullets look like going in and coming out. “I am a writer…” I whisper as I reblog this.
Leave “Let’s leave your fate to the numbers…” In my Inbox!
In which you send me in my inbox “Let’s leave your fate to the numbers…”, and I’ll go on a random number generator from numbers 1-20 and whatever number I land on is what’s going to happen to my muse! These will only last a day, so why not leave your fate to the numbers?
1: My muse is now married to yours, that or is under the assumption that the two of you are married.
2: Will gain an unnecessary obsession for your muse, whether it be humourous or taking the obsession to another level is up to you…
3: Gender swapped! Your character is now the opposite gender! To add to that they also believe that they’ve been that gender their whole life!
4: My Muse is now your personal maid/butler!!! Dress them up fancy and they’ll listen to any of your muse’s orders and they HAVE to obey.
5: My muse is now over sensitive and will take anything and everything the wrong way. They will be a bumbling mess of emotions and misunderstandings…
6: My muse now becomes a flirt, but not just any flirt; the cheesy kind. My muse will start flirting with just about anyone disregarding gender and the like with cheesy pick up lines.
7: My muse will eat a salad, that’s it… (Only one Fandom will get this joke…)
8: My muse will become the next Shakespeare! They will draw their voices out with the poet within them!
9: My muse goes blind! Their vision is gone and they can’t see anything!!!
10: My muse becomes a matchmaker, they will begin shipping people and doing whatever they can to get their OTP together. That and squeal with joy when they do get together (Just like everyone on Tumblr!)
11: My muse now has the urge to get yours in bed with him. They will do anything they can to get what they want with yours, and they want it badly! (Only one that is deniable due to age restrictions as well as Mun being uncomfortable doing it and please don’t go as far as doing rape stuff unless you have the Mun’s consent, keep this fun and legal!)
12: My muse becomes a Neko, they will grow ears and a tail and completely disregard their human nature to become a true Neko.
13: Suddenly my Muse is experiencing a horrid disease that’s slowly killing them on the inside! The pain is ripping them a part piece by piece!!! There is but only one cure for this and it’s for my muse to make lip with yours! Your muse is the only antidote!
14: Well now my Muse has shrunk down back to the size of a five year old and has the mindset of one as well…
15: Lip locking that’s all I have to say…
16: My Muse becomes a super Tsundere!!! N-N-Not like I wanted them to be one anyway… Idiot…
17: My Muse now has the personality of a clown, they will try and get everyone to laugh and bring a smile to people’s faces! Using comedy of course~!
18: My muse will now become a psychopathic killer that is on the hint for blood! But not just anyone’s blood… Your muses blood… They won’t be satisfied until your muse takes their last breathe and will destroy anyone that gets in their way
19: Your muse becomes a scaredy cat, anything including even the smallest twitch frightens them. It’s like the world is a horror movie to them and they’re the main characters
20: You’ve been spared a lucky glance, nothing seems to happen to my muse… They are in the clear!!!
“Well I was enjoying a quiet afternoon at my favorite restaurant. I guess I’ll have to pick somewhere else from now on,” she replied hotly, allowing some of her anger show. She watched him take a sip of his coffee again, noticing the barely there wince just as she had the first time it happened. “In any case, I don’t really care to sit here and watch a classmate of mine torture himself with scalding hot coffee.“
A part of her really hoped it burned him to the core but another part of her was also truly concerned about his new self-destructive tendencies. She had never known Saguru to feel the need to harm himself but beatings weren’t the only things that could leave scars and she could see them in his head as clearly as she could see the color of his eyes.
Butterscotch.
Frowning to herself, she ignored the thought. His eyes were the least of her concern.
"You’re curing me of my boredom though, so thank you for that. I don’t know how much longer I could just sit here and stare out the window.” In her head it had sounded more like appreciation for his company but her tongue had a way of poisoning her words. “You’re much nicer to look at than the cityscape.“
Hakuba set the coffee down at its place on the table and swallowed against the lingering burn. While it was true that he had many self-destructive tendencies, especially as of late, the coffee was only part of it in that it allowed him to skip sleep. He continued to burn himself because he was too impatient.
Still, concerning. The two attempts he’d made on his own life had been years ago and abandoned early. He’d promised Baaya that he’d never do it again. Yet, all the rest of his behaviors…?
He was embarrassed about the coffee, and about her seeing so clearly through his attempt to be neutral. He’d known that it would fail, so why had he even bothered? Being around her bothered him almost as much as being around Hattori did. Almost.
"Oh, well, I would hate to ruin your favorite restaurant, but I’m pleased to know that I can be an entertaining circus monkey for you, Koizumi-san.” Honorific san and surname only. Different than before, when she’d been Akako-san to him, or some equally formal-but-respectful pet name in French.
But then the rest of what she said caught up to him and he blushed despite himself, frowning with severity. “Ah- what?” No. No. She’s only manipulating you. He pursed his lips. “…Please. Spare me the empty compliments. You motioned that I should sit here, but I can’t imagine what you would have to say to me. Is there anything other than scathing commentary in store, Koizumi-san?"
“Do you really have that little confidence in your own ability?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and laughing. He didn’t mean it to sound so condescending so he rephrased. “I mean… you’re a talented detective right? I’d like to think that would count for something.“
He himself didn’t really care what Hakuba looked like. All that mattered to him was that he was good at what he did but he quickly realized how insensitive that sounded. Japan was a rather homogenous society and Hakuba stuck out like a sore thumb so of course there would be a lot of hesitance in allowing him to climb the police force ladder. Even if his dad was the top-most rank, that meant nothing when Hakuba was so different.
"I guess that might just be my own thought process though… there are still a lot of people with a conservative mindset that might balk at the idea of having you so high in the police force.” Quickly trying to lighten the mood, he flipped the subject. “I think they might just be jealous of your good looks. Westerners are considered pretty attractive around here, you know.“
Just a compliment between colleagues, of course.
O-of… course…
The reluctant annoyance that Hakuba was beginning to feel toward Kudou was distracted by the other detective’s compliment. Indeed, it brought his one-track mind sputtering to a stop before falling over on the tracks. He blinked, cheeks coloring, and averted his gaze quickly after that,
"Ah… thank you, Kudou-san,” Hakuba said after a moment, voice uncertain. “However, I don’t think that’s really why, though I appreciate the thought."
At last, a smile returned to his face. As loathe as he was to admit it, the kind words about his looks came across like praise from a picky master to a needy golden retriever.
"Not to worry, Kudou-san. I’ve known from a very young age that the nepotistic focus of Japanese society would ultimately prevent my ability to flourish here. I’ve never held any delusions about that.” A pause, then “Ah- how far are we from the cafe? I don’t believe I quite recognize this part of the neighborhood…"
In truth, he’d only been here a few times, mostly to run errands for the police. And although it had been incredibly tempting, he’d only been by Kudou’s home three or four times in the past couple of years, but never went past the front gate. No one had been home.
So, ultimately, he was unfamiliar with the area.
Amaterasu noted the lack of space on the rock. It’d be unwise to try to climb up to the very top, so she stayed on the rock just below the man. It would be a bit harder to tell if he could see the unseen, as she didn’t have her divine instrument on her back at the moment. This area was hallowed ground and there weren’t demons and monsters nearby.
She made a light breeze move in a different direction with her brush. That acrid smell that lingered in the city seemed to be carried by the wind and she truly was unaware of what it was called. It was irritating, though.
The wolf didn’t seem bothered by him, so Hakuba sort of shrugged it off. He hadn’t been aware that this particular area was inhabited by wolves, but then, it wasn’t like the Japanese government was really forcing animals to stay in one specific place according to race and class, was it? Ha ha.
Chuckling at his own private joke, Hakuba pulled the coffee from off of the briefcase and set it on the rock, opening the case to fish out a little bag of crackers. He opened it up and pulled one out, held out his hand.
“Would you like a cracker, wolf-san?”