Hakuba considered it kismet. As soon as Rei had introduced him to the wonder that was Tachibana Makoto, things had clicked into place without any sort of resistance at all. True, he was only in town for a couple of weeks to investigate the recent shenanigans at Iwatobi high school by his friend’s personal request, but he had been very well-received by the swim team and associates, which made for a very enjoyable business trip.

Makoto was of particular interest. Sweet, unassuming, charming… it seemed only natural to look to him for delegation of what needed to be done to carry out the investigation. Honestly, Hakuba could hardly ask for better working conditions on such a case. 

They sat on the steps leading up toward the swimmer’s house, basking in the filtered light of the hedges next to the steps in the afternoon sun. “Right,” Hakuba said, turning the page of the textbook on his lap, and pointed to another section. “And that is specifically why this algorithm works for this instance, but not for the other one…”

Physics. The interdependent marriage of science and math. Not a light subject, but one that Hakuba understood well. Which was likely the reason why helping Makoto with his homework before they got started on the detective business was now part of his to-do list. 

The detective reached over to scratch the head of the cat in Makoto’s lap, who purred and lazily stretched to drape over his leg, drooping toward the stair. 

“So you see, it’s all a matter of looking at the problem and choosing the correct formula to use for any given situation. That is to say, assessing the problem at hand, determining which variables need to be involved, and finding the formula that will get you that answer… consequently, here, it’s Newton’s 2nd Law that we’ll be using…”

[x]