"Hello? Mom, I have something to do tonight. It's about the last case. I need to work overtime at the moment, so I won't be going back tonight."
"Working overtime again? Okay, Mom knows. Alas, I sleep in the Metropolitan Police Department every now and then. You might as well just consider the Metropolitan Police Department your home. Your father was like this before, and you are like this now. If this happens in the future-
"
"Okay, okay, mom, isn't that the nature of police work? Let's not talk about it for now. I'm going to hang up now. My colleague called me."
Tokyo, Uehara Apartment.
Seeing that the man she had brought back was shaking and trying to get up from the sofa with his head covered in confusion, Sato Miwako hurriedly hung up the phone, shook her head, went up to him, and pushed him back.
on the sofa--
"Sit down, do you hear me? The sobering pot is already cooking. You'll drink it later."
"Who are you - eh? Sato? Why are you at my house?" The strong smell of alcohol spurted out the moment the man opened his mouth. Katsuki Uehara, who felt an indescribable sense of restraint in his neck, gasped and pulled with his right hand.
Neat tie——
He didn't know whether it was because of too much force or something wrong with the quality of his clothes. Several buttons popped open as he took off his tie. His sweaty chest was pressed against the half-wet white shirt, and his looming muscles were illuminated by the dim light.
smudged.
Miwako Sato, who was condescending, glanced subconsciously, her eyelids trembled, and she said steadily: "You are drunk. If I don't send you back, who else will send you back?"
"Don't go...
"No, I can do it myself. You can go back -"
Katsuki Uehara, who was greedy for warmth, unconsciously rubbed his chin against the woman's shoulder. His low sleep talking made Miwako Sato, who was about to put her on the bed, stunned. The tenderness between her eyebrows was even worse: "Sometimes I still think you are drunk.
More lovely and self-denying."
"Can you please stop leaving..."
"Although I don't like drinking very much, I know that sometimes drinking is better than not drinking at all. At least I have a channel to vent." Miwako Sato, who was watching the man's movements, raised the corners of her mouth several times: "I'll go first.
Get you a towel."
There are no too many words, no complicated comforts, just the crescent moon in the starry sky and the white window screens swaying in the wind on the balcony.
Uehara Katsumi, who was holding his tie tightly in one hand, rubbed his cheeks, shook his head and tried hard to regain consciousness: "Sorry, I'm troubling you again."
Taking the elevator to the door of Uehara Apartment, Megure Shisan took out the spare key he had brought in advance to open the door and said in a serious tone: "If you——"
Megure Thirteen stepped into the entrance hall and paused. Katsuki Uehara, who had messy hair, followed the sound and looked stunned: "Megure Police Department? Director Odagiri? Why are you here?"
Katsuki Uehara, who always felt like there were multiple Sato Miwakos appearing in front of him, bared his teeth and gasped. He stood up staggeringly with one hand on the back of the sofa. He closed his eyes and shook his head hard to try to let himself see the road under his feet clearly.
"Minister Odagiri, Uehara put himself in a bad state because of this case. Although he didn't say it at the time, I could still see it."
Although the stitch wounds had long since healed, the eye-catching color difference from the surrounding skin was enough to remind her of the old secrets told by the old man.
Vulnerable, sensitive, aggrieved, and out of control.
Boom!
boom!!!
The crisp sound of the body being erect and hitting the coffee table made Miwako, who had already turned around, turn around in shock. In a few big steps, she returned to the man's side. She stretched out her hand to help him up in disbelief. On her usually handsome cheeks,
His forehead is already red——
Sato Miwako pursed her lips, stood up, moved her waist and sat next to the man, and used her shoulders to pull the man who could not suppress the sad sobs into her arms.
——?!
The cry she tried to hide in her throat sounded particularly sad in this lonely night, no different from a sob.
"Did he set up a trap here to catch Uno Tadayoshi? It's a good place to confuse people." Odagiri Toshiro, standing with his hands behind his hands, turned to look at the surrounding environment: "Is anyone at home?"
Thinking about it now, it's no wonder that Uehara never seemed to reveal the specific reason for the fight with Oikawa Kunihiko.
Wait a moment!
Miwako Sato, who suddenly thought of something, blinked and looked down at Katsumi Uehara, who was already sleeping heavily with tears and the smell of alcohol.
As an experienced detective, Miwako Sato's judgment of wounds is quite accurate.
Under the dim light, Katsuki Uehara, who had endured it for who knows how long, revealed a side of himself that he had never shown before to Miwako Sato for the first time——
The Uehara Katsumi she knew in the past was extremely calm even if he died alone, but now...
Miwako stood up gently, holding the man's arm with one hand and patted his forehead gently: "Uehara, wake up, I will take you back to your room to sleep."
"Uehara!"
Sato Miwako smiled helplessly, her fingertips lightly brushed the man's tear-stained rough cheek, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.
"You always lie to others with your mouth, whether they are men or women."
"Nonsense, your head will be smashed——"
Uehara Katsumi could have been a football player, but after his injuries, his feet no longer allowed him to engage in long-term intense confrontation and sports——
As soon as he lifted his feet, an indescribable feeling of weightlessness suddenly came from his feet - the severe sensory delay caused by the drunken state directly caused him to fall forward!
"Katsuki and Kunihiko met in junior high school. To put it another way, it can be said that they grew up together. Let's put it this way, during the European Cup, the only person he brought with him to make money was Kunihiko.
But judging from the wounds that have healed, Uehara's ankle has definitely not suffered a heavy blow or other injury in the past year.
"Have you finished your shower? Can you hurry up? I was so tired last night that I went to bed straight away. I haven't even taken a shower yet!" As soon as the door was opened, Katsumi Uehara's powerful voice spoke.
It was clearly transmitted to the ears of the two people.
Sato Miwako, who promptly moved the lopsided vases on the coffee table to the far corner, turned around angrily, and was about to teach this drunken "hairy kid" a few words, when Katsumi Uehara's face showed two traces of tears falling from the corners of her eyes.
It made her stop the words that were already coming to her mouth.
"You still have the nerve to talk about last night? If you hadn't done it to me last night, how could I have gotten up so early in the morning and taken a shower?"
Sato Miwako, whose eyes were a little red, gently stroked the man's head that was shaking slightly from sobbing with her right hand, and the emotion in her beautiful eyes was full of distress.
Megure Shisan, who arrived here with Toshiro Odagiri, straightened his clothes, got off the car and said respectfully: "This is Uehara's home, Buchou."
…………………………………………………………………
Suddenly, Miwako Sato's ears seemed to hear the words of the old man she met when she went to the clothing store to "borrow" a dress. Subconsciously, her eyes fell on Katsumi Uehara's ankles that had taken off their socks.
at——
The next morning, under the building where Uehara's apartment is located.
What responded to her was Katsumi Uehara's heavy body.
"it hurts."
"When I called, it showed that the phone was turned off, so he must have something to do. I saw that he was dressed very solemnly yesterday, and when he called me to tell me, he also said that if he wanted to come and see the scene, he could just go to the property management company and get a backup key.
"
"You two are really..."
"...I understand, let's go up." Thinking of the phone call his old friend made to Uehara Katsumi in his office yesterday, Odagiri Toshiro's face darkened slightly, then returned to normal, and walked towards the elevator.
"I'm drunk? Oh, I'm drunk."
If she remembered correctly, Uehara said that he once violently beat up Oikawa Kunihiko, who was the number one in the police academy. Although he relied on sacking and group beatings, logically speaking, if Oikawa Kunihiko wanted revenge, he would never fail to do so.
Attack Uehara's weakness.
"It is said that he originally planned to become a policeman with Kuniyan, but then he was the only one to become a policeman..."
With her head wrapped in a pure white towel, Sato Miwako walked out of the bathroom wearing the pajamas she had worn for many years and her own slippers. While brushing her teeth, she did not forget to scold the man: "Come in quickly, I'll hold the cup."
Go to the kitchen and wash up—"
Turning around, Sato Miwako was stunned when she saw Megure Thirteen and Odagiri Toshiro standing at the entrance to the entrance: "Megure Police Department?"
"..."
Mengmu Shisan, whose eyes were moving back and forth on his two subordinates from doubt to gossip, came to his senses and asked in confusion: "Uehara, Sato, are you... living together?"