Toshio debated whether or not to help the other for a moment. They were in a busy enough place that someone would notice if he were being abducted…and it might actually be interesting to talk to this man, if he were actually what he said he was.
“Fine.” The writer huffed, matching the detective’s pace as they began to head for their destination. He wracked his brain for something to talk about…..anything.“Uhm. Uhm. So, Hakuba-san, I-I would like you to look into that translation of the Kojiki I was talking about. You see, because it’s written in old Japanese, many kanji have changed and all sorts of new w…words have been developed since then-” He couldn’t help but look over his shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of this mysterious woman and seeing no one conspicuous.
“-Anyway, th-this history lesson must be boring you. Do you need to know any more details?” Though he gave the lines of a customer his voice was way too pained to seem natural, and his body language was hunched and hesitant.
“No, no, not boring at all,” Hakuba said, pushing his voice to its most professional in tone. He was so relieved, so grateful that Toshio had agreed to play along, though poorly at best. That was all right; many of his clients were very nervous people, and tended to act out of sorts. “Any details that you can provide would be quite helpful…”
Kanji, though? That was something that Hakuba had to admit he wasn’t intimately familiar with. He was still, after all, a foreigner as everyone was so eager to point out. Still, he could ‘help’ with whatever task at hand his ‘client’ had come up with, regardless. He knew that his investigative abilities at least allowed for that.
Guiding the other toward the bookshop, Hakuba, too, stole a glance around to look for the woman. She had disappeared into the crowd of shoppers, but he didn’t feel any less ill at ease. If she caught up to him…
“This sounds like quite the intriguing case, but I believe that, together, we’ll be able to get to the bottom of it."