Short Story
Chapter One: The Unsolved Cases Section

Can you believe it?
Assigned to the Unsolved Cases Section.
At first, I was interested. The sound of "unsolved cases" had a nice ring to it.
But the more I heard from the people around me, the more I got the feeling my career was put on a sidetrack.

My name is Koto AMEKURA.
Looking up to my big brother, who’s an elite police detective, I too became a police detective.
And I thought of myself that I was a talented detective too.
But they assigned me to the Unsolved Cases Section.
When I told this to some veteran detectives, they gave wry smiles and tried to comfort me.
Why?

I got worried, so I tried to ask my brother, but as busy as he was as an elite detective, I couldn’t get hold of him.
I decided to ask Detective Hirokawa, who looked like he had nothing to do anyway and who’s a friend of my brother’s.
“Mr. Hirokawa, is there something wrong with the Unsolved Cases Section?”
He frowned and thought for a while.
“There’s nothing wrong with it, but… it won’t be easy for you perhaps.”
“Lots of work means nothing to me!”
But Hirokawa laughed and said: “Not sure how that’ll turn out. I don’t know exactly what they do there… But there’s only one detective assigned there at the moment, so I don’t think there's a lot of work.”
“Eh? One detective? You mean there’s only one person there besides me?”
Can you believe it?
“One detective! That’s unbelievable!”
“Anyway, the detective in charge, he’s called Nanase, there are not many who can work with him.”
“Is…is he that strict?”
“Not as much strict as that he’s weird.”
A weirdo. Alone with a weirdo.
I got worried.

“But he’s not a bad guy. He’s a really good detective. When he’s motivated.”
“So he’s unmotivated...?”
“He’s got talent. But he usually just plays with cards, or smokes.”
“How’s that talented?”
Hirokawa laughed.
I however couldn’t laugh.

“Heard something happened before. His girlfriend died or something like that. I don’t know the details though.”
“I see..”
Guess something awful happened to him.
“Anyway, good luck! Come to me if you need any help.”
“Yes! Thank you!”

Let’s stop worrying about this.
One shouldn’t look at others with preconceptions in your head.
Perhaps I’ll get along fine with this Mr. Nanase.
Okay! Gotta do my best!

The following day, I opened the door of the Unsolved Cases Section.
The person awaiting me there, was a man who had put his legs on the desk, and was smoking while playing with some cards: Detective Nanase.

Chapter 2: Cloudy Air

Today I’ll start at my new position.
I hid the anxiety within me and quickly walked down the hallway.
Let’s just pretend I didn’t hear anything about the Unsolved Crimes Section and Mr. Nanase.
Only believe what you yourself see.
Arriving in front of the door of the Unsolved Crimes Section, I took a deep breath.

“Go—good morning!” I greeted as I opened the door and bowed deeply.
“….”
Eh? Nobody here?
But this smell… it’s a cigarette.
Carefully I raised my head. A man who was playing with some cards and smoking, with his legs spread over the desk, came into sight.
No mistake. This had to be Mr. Nanase.
But to think he would just ignore my energetic greeting just like that….

“I’ve been assigned to the Unsolved Crimes Section as of today. My name is Toko Amekura! Mr. Nanase, I look forward to working with you.”
I bowed again.
No answer.
This was proving more difficult than I had thought....
But these first moments are the most crucial.
I stepped forward towards Mr. Nanase’s desk.
“Mr. Nanase!”
“Not so loud, Namekura (*dull/slowwitted) .”
“It’s Amekura!”
How could he be so rude to someone he had never met before?
He was staring at his cards, not even giving me a glimpse.
Anyway, I had to show him I have the working spirit.
“I will do my upmost best to be of assistance to Mr. Nanase!”
“Don’t bother, no effort is needed.”
I might not get along with this person….

I dropped my shoulders and put my belongings on my desk.
I placed my things on the desk the same way as at my previous position and booted the computer on.
…What should I do?
I had gone through this section’s paperwork, but the description of the work details was too vague. I had no idea.
Once again, I headed for Mr. Nanase’s desk.
“Mr. Nanase, could you tell me about what I could do now?”
“There’s no work.”
“Eh?”
There was no way that…
Mr. Nanase put out his cigarette.
“Sit down.”
“But….”

Mr. Nanase looked me into the face fort he first time.
“Only stand in front of me when you need something of me.”
“But what should I do now?”
“Just keep quiet for now.
Mr. Nanase started playing with the cards again.
I kept silent and sat down in my seat.

What was going on? Was sitting here quietly my work here?
I longed to my old place.
It was busy every day, but it was rewarding work.
I had friends there.
Why was I sent to this place?
I put my elbows on the desk, and looked back at happier times.
I was sure I had not made any major mistakes.
I was sure I was pretty good at my job.
So why to this place…?
I could not help sighing.
“Don’t sigh,” said Mr. Nanase and he lit another cigarette.
Even though smoking is prohibited inside. Even though I don’t like the smell of cigarettes.
Working together with this man… No it’s just sitting here quietly….
In more ways than one, I didn’t like the air here.

I sighed once more on purpose so Mr. Nanase would hear.

A Transfer Request

Nothing to do.
Let’s go through some old files.
I looked for the data on my computer, but the Unsolved Cases Section had no files at all.
Had nothing been done at all until now?
I had only been a few hours here at this section, but already my motivation had been taken away.
Should I request for a transfer?
But I can’t just go crying right after I’ve been assigned here….
I need to be patient….

Ring ring….
The phone,
Mr. Nanase makes not one single move.
I reached out for the phone.
“You don’t need to answer that.”
“Eh? Why?”
“…”
Mr. Nanase didn’t answer. I couldn’t ignore phone calls made to this section.
“Yes, the Unsolved Cases Section here.”
“Oh, you finally answered. I called several times, but you didn’t answer, you see….”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. How can I help you?”
“So I bought a new car, you know, and can you believe it, this car….”
“Your car…?”
“It’s a brand new car…”
“Ye-yes…”
“So miss, if you’re free now, shall we go out for a drive?”
“…”
Silently, I hung up the phone.

“Told you you didn’t need to answer it.”
“But what was that?”
“We don’t get serious phone calls here.”
“But, but you can’t know that until you answer the phone. What if it’s an unsolved case….”
Mr. Nanase blew out some smoke, looking uninterested.
“The other detectives do a great job. Unsolved cases are pretty rare.”
“But…!”

Ring ring…
“Don’t answer it.”
“But I have to!”
I reached out for the phone again.
“Hello, the Unsolved Cases Section here.”
“Err… I was the one who killed my wife eight years ago….”
“Eeeeeh!?”
See, there are phone calls like this one too.
“Could you tell me more?”
“Yes… what happened was…”
“(Dear!)”
I could hear the voice of a woman on the other side of the line.
“She cheated on me, and we got in a fight…”
“(Dear, keep it together.)”
“Eh?”
What is this weird feeling?
“I saw blood, and with these two hands, I… my wife….”
“(I’m still alive! Look, I’m eating right here)”
“Excuse me…,” I started, when the woman answered.
“I’m sorry for causing you trouble. My husband has these spells occasionally…”
“A, oh…I see.”
I ended the conversation and laid down the receiver.

“Don’t take pranks calls from elderly seniles or people with too much free time seriously.”
A sigh, no, tears escaped from me.
Why was I feeling so pitiful?
I looked at Mr. Nanase, who, as always, was playing with his cards.
Did he spend every day like this?
It’s amazing he doesn’t get bored just looking at those cards.
He might as well try fortune telling.

Ring ring ring…
“The Unsolved Cases Section.”
“And miss, you know, my car is a conver…”
Silently, I put the receiver down.
Yep. Let’s make a transfer request.

Just as I had decided on that, I heard loud knocking on the door.
Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang bang!
“Ye-yes!”
I quickly got up, opened the door and saw a small girl standing there.
“Oh, welcome.”
Welcome was perhaps a bit strange to say here.
“What’s the matter? This isn’t Lost & Found….”
“Please investigate my unsolved case!!”
This was the first job Mr. Nanase and I worked on.