After arriving at the hospital, the doctors and nurses quickly sprang into action thanks to the earlier phone call. Yamato Kansuke, still unconscious, was rushed directly into the operating room.
Holding the payment slip, Ritsu walked toward the reception counter. Looking at the police identification in his hand, he took out his phone and called the Nagano Prefectural Police Headquarters. After being transferred internally to the First Investigation Division, the person who answered was a woman.
"This is Uehara Yui speaking. How may I help you?"
"This is Onizawa Takashi from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. While on vacation, I happened to come across one of your detectives named Yamato Kansuke. Uehara-san, do you happen to—"
Before Ritsu could finish speaking, the woman's tone immediately became frantic. It seemed the relationship between the two was quite close, otherwise she wouldn't have called the detective "Kansuke."
"How is Kansuke?! Did something happen to him? Can he answer the phone right now?"
The barrage of questions left Ritsu feeling helpless, though he understood her concern. He deliberately softened his tone to calm her down.
"Uehara-san, please calm down.Yamato-san is currently undergoing emergency surgery. Based on my medical knowledge, his life shouldn't be in danger, but…"
"But what?!"
"Yamato-san was caught in a small avalanche caused by a landslide. Even after surgery, his left leg will most likely require him to rely on a cane to walk."
Ritsu intentionally paused, giving her time to mentally prepare before continuing. "His left eye suffered severe trauma, so it will most likely need to be removed."
For a moment, Yui didn't know what to say. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she knew this wasn't the time to break down over Kansuke.
"What hospital is he in? I'll head there immediately!"
"Hokkaido Kariba Hospital. Oh, and there's one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Why was he on Mount Kariba at this time? Do you know the reason?"
Ritsu couldn't understand why a Nagano detective would travel all the way to Hokkaido. The fact Kansuke carried a firearm clearly meant he wasn't there on vacation, he had been on duty.
Switching the phone to speaker mode, Yui hurriedly organized the files on her desk while answering,
"Kansuke heard about an escaped fugitive while on a temporary business trip, so he most likely pursued the suspect to Mount Kariba. I'm heading over right now. Please, Detective Onizawa, keep an eye on the operating room for me."
"Understood. I will."
After hanging up, Ritsu more or less understood the situation now.
The man buried under the snow probably hadn't been the only victim. The fugitive was most likely still buried beneath the heavy snow somewhere out there. But Ritsu had no interest in digging another corpse out with his bare hands. That could be left to the Hokkaido police.
Returning to the operating room entrance, he found Hayasaka glancing around as though searching for something.
Walking up behind her, he asked, "Lose something?"
Hayasaka jumped in surprise. Turning around resentfully, her gaze landed on his hands, which were still covered in leather gloves. She immediately grabbed one and gently pulled the glove off.
The instant she touched his skin, an icy chill greeted her. His pale hands had already turned purplish-red from the cold.
"Come with me to see a doctor. You're a grown man already, don't you know to get treatment when you're injured?"
Holding onto the hand that felt no different from a block of ice, she dragged him toward the emergency room. The surgery clearly wasn't ending anytime soon, so she might as well get this idiot treated first.
Ritsu could feel the warmth surrounding his hand. Once frostbite reached a certain level, the hands lost all sensation and could even feel strangely hot instead.
Noticing several people nearby looking in their direction, he guessed they probably thought they were some bickering couple and had started watching the drama unfold.
"You should at least hold my other hand too. Walking like this feels awkward."
"Quit complaining and hurry up!"
"You sound just like my—" The words suddenly got stuck in his throat.
Hayasaka didn't slow down. Tilting her head in confusion, she looked back at Ritsu.
"Like your what? Why'd you stop talking? Don't tell me you were about to insult me."
'You sound just like my mom.'
He really wanted to say it.
But when he thought about it carefully, there wasn't even a mother in his memories to begin with.
How could he say those words so naturally? He didn't know what kind of person his mother had been, whether she was good or evil. He knew nothing at all.
"Yeah, it was an insult."
Ritsu curved his eyes into a smile, hiding the melancholy buried deep inside as he replied teasingly,
"I didn't expect you'd actually want to hear me badmouth you. Well then, don't mind if I do."
"Stop. I don't want to hear it. Quietly keep your mouth shut."
"Hm."
After being forcibly dragged into the emergency room, his hands were coated in frostbite cream before the injured areas were wrapped in layers of clothing.
Ten minutes later, outside the operating room, Ritsu sat obediently on one of the benches. His legs were slightly spread apart while both hands dangled downward. Looking at the clothing wrapped around his hands, he suddenly realized the scene looked oddly familiar.
Why did it look like he was a criminal arrested in public, with clothing covering his handcuffs?
The corner of Ritsu's mouth twitched slightly. He tossed the clothes back to Hayasaka. "My hands are warm already. Here."
"That fast? Let me check."
Ritsu immediately hid his hands behind his back and declared righteously,
"In order to maintain a healthy relationship between male and female coworkers, I believe it's necessary to avoid unnecessary physical contact, so…"
"You think I want to touch your hands? Don't be so narcissistic, Onizawa!"
Seeing that this tactic worked, Ritsu copied the exaggerated expressions of delinquents from TV dramas and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Oho~ I now have reason to suspect you're just making excuses to touch me physically. Hayasaka… don't tell me you like me?"
Hayasaka nearly rolled her eyes so hard they'd disappear.
This really was narcissism opening the door for more narcissism, completely hopeless.
Moving swiftly, she directly grabbed the hand Ritsu had tried to hide and frowned. "Aren't they still cold? Give me the other one too."
Caught off guard, Ritsu could only helplessly extend his right hand as well. Looks like he'd need to stay more guarded around Hayasaka in the future. He hadn't expected her hand speed to be that fast.
Though the main reason was because Ritsu knew exactly what kind of girl Hayasaka was. If he'd pulled his hand away earlier, she probably would've pounced on him until she got her way.
Watching her carefully tie the clothes around both his hands into a neat butterfly knot, Ritsu felt certain that if anyone from the Organization saw him right now, their jaws would hit the floor.
"And one more thing, stop joking around like that."
"Hm?"
Turning her face away slightly, Hayasaka muttered softly, "There's already someone I like, so don't joke about that stuff anymore."
'Someone she liked?' Thinking of a certain anime protagonist, Ritsu chuckled.
"Oh, you mean Mamoru Chiba? Isn't he already taken? You should really move on and like someone else."
"How do you know I like Mamoru Chiba?"
Ritsu rapidly searched through his memories. Hayasaka definitely had never mentioned Mamoru Chiba to Onizawa Takashi before.
Crap… he needed an excuse.
"Come on, I do have deductive skills too, you know?"
Recalling the chocolates he received on Valentine's Day this year, Ritsu leaned back in his chair calmly.
"The box of chocolates you gave me had Mamoru Chiba packaging on it, didn't it? A little deduction makes it pretty obvious you like that character."
"Oh. Those chocolates were actually meant for him too. It's just… there's no way he could ever receive them."
"Of course a fictional 2D character can't receive them. What are you even talking about?"
Ritsu gave Hayasaka a strange look. He genuinely hadn't expected her to be such a hardcore anime nerd.
"You're wrong. The person I like stopped being the fictional Mamoru a long time ago."
"Then who is it?"
"Do you remember when we first met? What you said back then was exactly why I disliked you at first. Because to me, Ritsu-senpai… the person who only taught me for one month… was someone very special."
Even Hayasaka didn't know why she was saying these things to Onizawa. Maybe it was because she had buried those feelings in her heart for too long.
Smiling bitterly, she continued, "I liked Ritsu-senpai. But those feelings can never reach him anymore."
"…"
Ritsu's eyes widened slightly. For a moment, he had no idea how he should react.
Suddenly, he felt incredibly selfish.
He had just heard her confession, yet the only thing he could do was respond with silence as a form of rejection.
The person she confessed to was Sasajima Ritsu, not Onizawa Takashi. He had no way to answer her feelings.
Still… he genuinely hadn't expected Hayasaka to like him. He had never noticed at all.
Noticing the strange expression on Ritsu's face, Hayasaka stood up with her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes threateningly.
"You're not allowed to tell anyone about this. Otherwise, I'll kill you."
"I'm not that much of a gossip. Of course I won't tell anyone."
"Hmph. It better stay that way!"
Ritsu adjusted his glasses and quietly apologized in his heart.
But honestly…
'Hayasaka, thank you for liking me. Your feelings didn't fail to reach me at all…'
'They reached me perfectly.'
'But someone like me doesn't deserve such a luxurious emotion. I just hope that in the future, you'll find the happiness that truly belongs to you.
And I'll continue protecting you as Onizawa Takashi, teaching you more investigative skills along the way.'
But before all that, Ritsu raised both hands and asked, "Um… can you untie this now?"
"No."
"But a lot of people are staring at us. They might misunderstand and think we're doing something weird—"
Instantly understanding what he meant, Hayasaka hurriedly untied the butterfly knot. Her face flushed bright red as she muttered something under her breath, most likely from embarrassment.
Finally freed, Ritsu smiled and shook his hands, which had regained sensation.
"So when did you figure it out?"
"Hm?"
He had always been sharp. From Hayasaka's invitations and actions, he'd already sensed something.
Leaning back in his seat, Ritsu asked curiously, "When did you realize the thing about me having a girlfriend was fake?"
"Wasn't it obvious? And afterward, I visited Miho-san too. She asked me to thank you."
The Wolf of Beika case remaining unresolved had left Hayasaka feeling conflicted, so three days after the incident, she personally visited Nagai's mother.
That was when she learned, Onizawa never had a girlfriend. He had just used it as an excuse to send her away while he went to visit Miho himself.
"Tch. I thought my acting was pretty convincing."
"I think you're just desperate for a girlfriend. Though with your looks, finding one probably wouldn't be difficult."
Hayasaka paused, mischief flickering in her eyes. "But there's still one important condition."
"What condition?"
Hayasaka raised her right hand and mimed zipping her lips shut before speaking in an exaggeratedly serious tone.
"Watch your mouth. Otherwise, you'll never get a girlfriend."
"…Get lost."
"Hahahaha~"
----
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