Chapter Text
Prosecutor’s Office. Lobby. Receptionist Area.
November 13. 10:40 a.m.
“Ugh,” Akaashi’s face scrunches up in disgust. “This place reeks of prosecutor stench…”
Kuroo snorts and closes the door behind them. The prosecutor’s office is big and pristine; its hallways are beige and wide and everything is neat and in order. Kuroo can’t help but feel a little jealous.
They walk up to the receptionist - Mai, her nameplate reads - and ask for directions to Futakuchi’s office. It’s Kuroo’s first time going up against him, but certainly not the first time seeing him in action.
“Asshole’s office is down the hall, up the elevator, fourth floor, third door to the right!” she says cheerfully.
She seems cool, Kuroo thinks.
“This place is so big and nice, why can’t we have a place like this?” Noya whines as they walk to the elevator.
Kuroo smiles a dark and bitter smile.
“We can’t all be fancy ass prosecutors who get paid 500 times more than defense lawyers now, can we?”
Just as Noya is about to continue his whining, the door to the lift opens, revealing Iwaizumi and a certain blonde with a black striped undercut. Kuroo is relieved to see that he isn’t the only one with hair issues.
Yaku smirks.
“Iwaizumi! How nice to see you,” he greets as they step into the elevator. “Seems like we’re all going to the same level.”
Iwaizumi smiles. “Yep. I need to hand Moniwa the files for the paper forging case.”
Yaku nods, then gestures to the boy beside Iwaizumi. “Well, well, Kyoutani-kun, you’re here too? Did Iwaizumi drag you along for ‘experience’?” Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, while the junior detective gives his boss a bored look, but shakes his head.
Ding. 4th Floor.
They all step outside the lift.
“Well actually, Kyoutani is here bec-” Iwaizumi is cut off by a short, dark-haired man running towards them. “-that.”
“Kyou-kun! Thank goodness you’re here!” he waves to the unfazed Kyoutani and gives a bow to everyone else.
“Hello senpais!” he greets cheerfully. His eyes sparkle a bit at the sight of Yaku; Kuroo knows for a fact this kid idolizes Yaku. Yaku gives a warm smile and returns the greeting.
“Sakunami-kun, hello, what are you doing here?” Akaashi questions his junior analyst.
“Oh! Sasaya-san needed help investigating the so-called-” he makes air finger quotes. “-suicide, of the woman in the Central District.” The small analyst turns his attention to the Mad Dog of the Detective Department. “I called you 40 minutes ago, slowpoke!” he scolds, swatting the other’s arm lightly. Kyoutani looks slightly embarrassed and mutters an apology.
“I told you he could tame the mad dog…” Iwaizumi whispers to Yaku.
“Come now Kyou-kun, we need to find Sasaya-san,” Sakunami grabs Kyoutani’s hand and- Did this small boy just grab Kyoutani Kentarou’s hand without getting bitten? Kuroo gasps - and gives another hasty bow to them.
“Good luck with your cases senpais!” As the two rush off, Kuroo notices the usually scowling Mad Dog Detective’s face has broken into a soft, barely there smile.
“What the heck… was… can we take him?” Yaku turns to Akaashi with a determined look. Akaashi chuckles.
“Sorry Yaku-san, Sakunami-kun is a very important member of our department. We aren’t going to give him to you as a babysitter.”
“But he tamed Kyoutani,” Iwaizumi says, looking distressed. “It took me 2 months, 8 challenges and 4 arm wrestling rematches to get him to listen to me. All it took was a week and a coffee date for Sakunami…”
“Gee, maybe you just aren’t cute enough, Iwaizumi-san.” Noya jokes and Iwaizumi rolls his eyes.
“The way Kyoutani talks about him makes me really believe he’s magical. Kyoutani is finally becoming one of our ace detectives thanks to him.” Iwaizumi swells with pride.
“Proud daddy, aren’t you Hajime~” Kuroo taunts. Iwaizumi shudders slightly, his eyes filling with horror.
“Please do not ever call me daddy…” Iwaizumi looks like he might be having war flashbacks in his mind and Kuroo is a hundred percent sure they’re all related to a certain brunette hacker. Everybody else winces at the unwelcome thought, but Noya snickers and elbows Iwaizumi in the side.
“Iwaizumi-san, don’t you have some papers to deliver?”
“Oh, right,” Iwaizumi says. “”Good luck with your case, guys!”
“Thank you, daddy Hajime~” Kuroo calls back, earning him a nice middle finger. Kuroo and Noya’s other upcoming daddy jokes go unspoken as they are dragged by Akaashi and Yaku respectively by the ears.
“Pain-in-the-ass-san, Noya, Futakuchi’s office is that way.”
“You two are practically ten…” Yaku sighs.
“Out of ten!” Kuroo high fives Noya.
“Ow ow ow… I’m sorry, Morisuke-kun,” Noya says, wincing with Kuroo as Yaku and Akaashi pull harder.
Yaku raps on Futakuchi’s office door.
A cheery “come in!” can be heard, and after a moment of hesitation, Yaku opens the door.
Futakuchi Kenji is sitting on his swivel chair in the middle of his spacious office, bookcases filled to the brim with files and papers standing on both sides.
“Hello~ I’m guessing you’re here for the trial dates and witness bla bla,” Futakuchi spins his chair around and grins cheekily. “or maybe Yaku-kun finally wants to ask me out on a date.”
Yaku flushes and flips him off. Even if Yaku hadn’t, Noya would have done it on his behalf.
“Not a chance.”
“So, the first one?” Futakuchi feigns a pout.
“No, princess, I’m here to whisk you away to Neverland for our fairy wedding.” Kuroo flashes his signature cheshire cat smile. Yaku marvels at how he’s keeping such a straight face, but what was it again? Birds of a feather, flock together?
Futakuchi chuckles.
“This is why I like you, Kuroo-kun.” He holds up a pink file and tosses it to Noya, who catches it with ease. Futakuchi turns to look at Kuroo, his face suddenly extremely serious as he rises slowly from his chair.
“Trial is in two days, be ready to see the truth, because just as you fully believe your client is innocent,” Futakuchi’s tone is firm as his eyes meet Kuroo’s, determination and something else Kuroo can’t quite place, shining in his eyes. “I will not hesitate to uncover the truth, no matter how dirty, to bring the one responsible to justice.”
This side of Prosecutor Futakuchi… Kuroo thinks, is terrifying.
Futakuchi plops back down with a salty smile plastered on his face.
“Okay sweeties, ta-ta!” he says, waving in a shooing motion.
The others groan and trudge out his office. Before he exits, Akaashi’s gaze lands on the prosecutor‘s neck, where a crystal jellyfish pendant is hanging on a silver chain. A crystal jellyfish pendant on a necklace hanging from Futakuchi’s neck is what piques his interest. Kuroo takes notice of this and elbows Akaashi in a wordless What’s wrong? just as Prosecutor Futakuchi closes the door.
Akaashi shakes his head.
“It’s nothing… I just thought his necklace looked-” Akaashi pauses a moment. “-oddly familiar. Nevermind that, I’m probably just tired.” Kuroo raises an eyebrow but adds no further comment.
“I wonder where Aone was.” Noya thinks aloud.
“Yea, where was the big guy,” Kuroo looks around the empty hallway. “he’s usually the one reigning in Princess Prosecutor over there.”
Yaku shrugs. “He probably needed to go get the updated autopsy report.”
“Okay, we should go check on K uroo’s ex, Dude with the Nice Thighs and Pretty Silver Hair-chan.” Noya says. His creative nicknames once again earn him a gentle slap from a certain ginger-haired detective.
Akaashi and Kuroo mutter “rest in pieces” and “get a room” under their breaths respectively, as they walk to the elevator.
------
Police Department. Investigative Unit.
November 13. 11:31 a.m.
“Argh, what a pain!” the hear a gruff voice huff out. “Dammit! Why did we have to get THIS case, Chikara?”
Noya immediately perks up at the sound of the voice and breaks away from the group, charging down the hallway towards the source.
“Noya wait!” Kuroo calls, trying to grab him but it’s too late.
Noya’s already tackling the two figures standing at the end of the hall “RYUU! CHIKARA!”
“YUU!” the one in police uniform turns as a huge grin creeps onto his face. He catches Noya easily when the other leaps into his arms, giving him a quick hug before letting him back down so that Chikara can give him a hug as well.
Chikara - also known as Prosecutor Ennoshita - smiles warmly.“Long time no see, Noya.”
Kuroo huffs as he finally reaches them and attempts to high-five Tanaka.
“Kuroo-san! Akaashi-san! Boss!”
“Hello, Kuroo-san, Akaashi-san, Yaku-san,” The pair greet as the trio finally catch up to Noya. Yaku grins and lightly slaps Tanaka’s shoulders.
“So, what brings you guys here?” Ennoshita asks.
Kuroo shrugs. “Witnesses, as usual.”
“Ah, you got the Karasu Bar case didn’t you?” Ennoshita says matter-of-factly.
“Eh? Yea we did,” Kuroo looks surprised. “How did you know?”
Ennoshita chuckles.
“I could hear Futakuchi cursing your name from my office.” They all laugh. At least, all of them, except Noya, who squints a little at Chikara.
“Okay, well we better be off now, we have a case of animal slaughter to check up on,” Chikara says, unpertubed by Noya’s searching gaze.
Tanaka cringes. “Ugh, yeah, we do. Anyway, Noya-san, call me sometime when you’re free! Let’s go out for drinks!”
He gives Noya a fist bump, to which Noya nods enthusiastically and slaps him on the shoulder.
“You bet, Ryuu! It’s been too long since we’ve gone and went a little wild!”
“Aren’t you two always wild…” Yaku mutters, just as Akaashi mumbles a “You met last week…”
“Okay, we best be off then!” Chikara says, pulling Tanaka away from Nishinoya.
“Bye Kuroo-san, Akaashi-san, Boss Chief!” Yaku rolls his eyes at this.
“Doesn’t he ever get tired of rolling his eyes around so much?” Kuroo whispers to Akaashi, before he is jabbed in the ribs by the subject of his attempted sass.
“Chikara… wait.” Nishinoya tugs on Ennoshita’s sleeve and furrows his brow in concern..
Ennoshita smiles and waves his hand dismissively. Noya narrows his eyes: we’ll talk later.
“Farewell, my darling Yuu!” Tanaka calls dramatically.
“May we meet again, my prince!” Nishinoya breaks into a grin, all traces of worry vanishing immediately from his face.
Kuroo snickers at the duo's ridiculous antics.
“By the way,” Ennoshita says as they walk away. “say hi to Daichi-san for me.” He doesn’t turn back. Tanaka, however, does and pointedly nods towards Ennoshita, mouthing a “talk to him” to Noya. It seems like he’ll need to have a long chat with Ennoshita later.
Wait, Noya suddenly comes to a realization. He knows Sawamura? How odd…
------
Police Department. Investigative Unit. Outside Holding Room 05.
November 13. 11:50 a.m.
“Okay, but why do I have to interrogate my ex?” Kuroo bitterly looks beyond the one-sided glass, where Daishou is sitting, arms crossed and a bored look on his face.
“Well, you know him more than we do,” Yaku says.
“Yea bu-”
“So you can tell when he’s being truthful or not by his little ticks. Now go.” As Yaku shoos him towards the door of Holding Room 05, Kuroo tries to hide his grimace.
“So, Morisuke-kun and I will take Suga-san, and Akaashi-san will take Daichi-san, correct?” Noya looks at the door to Holding Room 06 and glances back at Yaku, who nods.
“As an analyst, Akaashi can do just as well on his own.”
“Why do you get Noya’s help?” Kuroo pouts.
“Because he’s your ex, Sugawara-san is quite hard to read, and also,” Yaku waggles his finger at the taller man, “as a defense lawyer, you should be able to read body language well enough yourself, no?”
Kuroo sneers and opens his mouth to retort -
“Tch. Provoking people is my job, shorty. ” Yaku mimics Kuroo’s voice - it’s scarily accurate. Kuroo shuts his mouth immediately. “Now go in there and face it like a man, you big baby.”
“Yes mom.” Kuroo grumbles, taking the file that Yaku shoves at him.
“Good luck, Kuroo-san. If you try anything I’m telling Kenma.” Akaashi says. Kuroo sticks his tongue out at all of them.
Taking a deep breath, he opens the door and steps in.
------
Police Department. Investigative Unit. Outside Holding Room 05.
November 13. 11:53 a.m.
The door closes behind Kuroo, and the remaining three look on through the mirror as he sits himself across Daishou.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Akaashi asks.
“It’ll be fine, as long as he doesn’t show too much emotion.” Yaku says flatly, beforeturning around. “Let’s go, Noya. Good luck, Akaashi.”
It’s only after Akaashi nods and walks off into the direction of holding room that Yaku notices Noya’s troubled expression.
“Noya… is something the matter?”
The question snaps Noya out of his train of thought.
“Morisuke-kun… why didn’t Chikara take on this case? Criminal cases are his specialty.”
Yaku mulls over the question. “Maybe he had his hands full already?”
Nishinoya hums in half agreement, but ponders it further. They stop at the door to Holding Room 07.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Yaku takes a glance at the white-haired man resting his chin on his hand, eyes puffy.
Nishinoya smiles. “Good cop, bad cop here we go.”
------
Police Department. Forensics Lab. Examination Room.
November 13. 12:15 a.m.
“Okay but why was the glass shard so… clean? No prints at all.” Semi holds the ziploc bag with the glass shard up, squinting his eyes at it. “Kind of odd, don’t you think?”
Kenma turns to his senior forensics scientist as his ties his hair up. “Hm. I suspect the culprit either decided to dispose of the evidence by wiping it of prints then breaking the entire glass and dumping it but missed some... or this is not the glass Terushima drank from.”
“Ah… you mean whatever container was holding the poison, ye?” Semi takes the shard out and places it under the microscope carefully with a gloved hand. “Maybe they didn’t mean to break it but something happened.”
“That’s quite the possibility too.” Kenma pushes up his glasses. ”There is also a possibility of the culprit wearing gloves… but that’s unlikely, seeing as no one was wearing gloves on that day. So it is either the poison container or the glass. That may prove to be a crucial point as the culprit may still be in possession of the poison’s container.”
“Shouyou? Tobio? Anything on the cloth?”
“Some type of polyester… fabric. Erm. Let’s see, I’d say sort sort of dress shirt or… a glove!” Hinata huffs out a sigh. “It’s a bit too singed to be able to pinpoint exactly.”
Semi chuckles.“Being able to tell us that is good enough, Shouyou.”
Hinata brightens at Semi’s words, and Kageyama ruffles his hair affectionately, albeit a little harshly.
“So, we have some evidence I guess? No prints at all though. No DNA. No trace of who but traces of what , at the very least.” Semi huffs out a sigh.
“I guess I have to tell Satori now…” Semi whips his phone out of one of the small lockers in the lab. “Satori, we have an update. Hmm. Yes we can do that. Stop by for the proper reports. Get one for Kuroo and Aone too.”
There’s a pause, before a vein twitches prominently in Semi’s forehead. “What? No! WILL YOU STOP TEASING ME ABOUT A MURDER A DAY AFTER MY BIRTHDAY?! MY BITHDAY IS NOT A BAD OMEN. SHUT UP!”
“You should probably update the defense too, Kenma!” Hinata adds, ignoring Semi’s yelling.
Kenma is already pulling his phone out of his locker.“On it.”
----
Police Department. Investigative Unit. Inside Holding Room 05.
November 13. 11:51 a.m.
Witness #1:Daishou Suguru.
“Suguru.” Kuroo calls, sitting himself in the chair on the opposite end of the table to Daishou.
“Tetsu.” Daishou smiles. Kuroo can’t tell if it’s genuine or not, but it’s better than nothing.
“Shall we begin?” Kuroo’s lips curve into a lazy grin in return, Daishou licks his lips and nods.
Kuroo’s face immediately locks on to his “interrogation” expression, his smile looks more like a provocative sneer now; a true Cheshire Cat smile, as Noya calls it. He places a small voice recorder on the table right in front of Daishou, then folds his arms.
“Now, repeat everything you told us yesterday but from the moment Terushima Yuuji entered the bar, but this time leave out no details. No faces to be left out as well. No funny business.”
Daishou takes a deep breath.
“Okay, so as I told you yesterday, Terushima and his friend came in, They sat down, the other one went to flirt with Suga-chan. I tried to flirt with Terushima, I’ll admit that,” he glances sheepishly at Kuroo, who rolls his eyes. “He said he was flattered but had someone he was thinkin’ ‘bout, so I just gave him a wink and left him at that.
“Then your two friends, with the owl head, came in and sat at the next table.
“Suga-chan chatted with them a bit. I mean, it’s Suga-chan, he can talk to anyone.
“I was making the drink when this really cute guy comes, rad dragon tattoo on his right arm - it was green and had badass kanji on it, messy fringe covering one eye,” he looks up at Kuroo then, a hint of shyness in his eyes. “Maybe I have a type… anyway, we throw some words here and there, I realize I needed to get the stock of syrups outside so I leave my drinks on the countertop while I get the stuff.
“When I come back, he’s still there, I give him a kiss to the cheek and my number. Oh god, I sound like a high school girl talking about a crush; and what more, to my ex…”
“Continue, Suguru, no matter how cringeworthy, I need all the details,” Kuroo says patiently.
Daishou sticks out his tongue. “Jealous much?”
Kuroo flips him the finger.
“Let’s see, where was I? Oh yeah, the cute guy left, I told Suga-chan to help me serve the drinks while I went to put the crates back out.
“When I came back, I started cleaning the glasses and a while later, maybe 25 minutes give or take, I hear screaming.
“That’s when your friend came running in and pleading for help. Dude has zero alibi though, so I assume it was just for show.”
Kuroo’s eye twitches at the comment, but he keeps his cool.
“Hm. Okay.” he clicks off the recorder. “They say you can go back home today, but make sure to not tell anyone about the case. The trial will be two days from now, but I’m sure the prosecutor told you that already.”
He makes sure to maintain his neutral tone and expression, but seeing Daishou staring back at him with those familiar eyes, he feels his face involuntarily flush and looks away.
“Y’know… I’ve kinda missed you Tetsu.” Daishou smiles, albeit a little sadly.
“I-” Whatever Kuroo wants to say is cut off by the irritating nyan s coming from his phone.
Incoming Call
Kenyan~
“S-sorry, I need to go. Thanks, Suguru. See you at the trial.” Kuroo picks up the call and leaves the room.
-----
Police Department. Investigative Unit. Inside Holding Room 06.
November 13. 11:54 a.m.
Daichi looks like a mess. There are dark rings under his eyes, contrasting sharply against his pale skin, and Akaashi can’t help but feel sympathetic
“My condolences, Sawamura-san.”
Daichi smiles wanly. “Thank you… Akaashi-san was it?”
Akaashi nods, switching on the voice recorder.“I don’t want to pressure you, but now I have to ask you some questions about what exactly happened yesterday.”
“As long as it can help catch whoever did this to him? I’ll do anything I can to help.”
“Firstly, may I ask, who was Terushima to you?”
“Great friend. We met in high school as rival volleyball club captains.” Nostalgia and sadness are evident in his voice.
“How long was Terushima alone at the table?”
“25 minutes, give or take.”
“How many times did he leave the table?”
“Three.”
“Did you notice anyone suspicious?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“Okay, now please tell me the whole story again.”
Daichi complies.
-----
Police Department. Investigative Unit. Inside Holding Room 07.
November 13. 11:54 a.m.
“Good afternoon, Sugawara-san.” Yaku greets as he closes the door.
“Hello, Sugawara-san!” Nishinoya plops himself down on the only vacant chair in the room and gestures for Yaku to share it with him. Yaku rolls his eyes and remains standing.
Suga looks paler than what would be considered normal, but gives them a bright smile.
“Hello, good almost-afternoon. And please, just call me Suga.”
“Suga-san, then,” Yaku nods.“Now, I know you told us the story yesterday, but I need you to make sure you don’t leave out anything at all this time. ”
“I… didn’t leave anything out the other day, did I?”
“Ah no, this is just in case, because you tend to recall less right after something very shocking happens.” Nishinoya takes out his notebook.
“Oh, I see,” Suga’s eyes crinkle when he smiles again - he really is very pretty, Yaku thinks - “then I’ll do my best to remember.
“So, as I said yesterday-”
-----
Police Department. Investigative Unit. Inside Holding Room 07.
November 13. 12:20 p.m.
“So the only stranger around the bar area was the guy flirting with the barista, correct?”
“That’s right, his fringe covered his left eye… ah! Just like your friend with the spiky bedhead. But his hairstyle was like… Uh… your half-blonde friend!” Nishinoya snickers at Suga’s description of the stranger, who seems to be some sort of Kuroo-Kenma lovechild. Nishinoya has to bite his tongue to not laugh at the thought.
“Thank you for your time, Suga-san, you’ll be allowed to go back home, but the trial is in two days, so please remember not to leak any information out. You’ll be under some watch here and there, you need to answer some papers regarding your involvement. Please be careful too.”
“Of course.”
Nishinoya flashes Suga a grin as they walk out.
They spot Akaashi and Kuroo waiting for them in front of Room 07; Kuroo is on his phone.
“Kenma~ come on, it’s better to discuss the details while eating. We can go to the cafe down the street. What. No way, your office is stuffy.
“‘There are too many people’ is not a good enough excuse… listen, Akaashi says they have apple pie. Okay, see you in 20 minutes~” He hangs up, acutely aware of everyone’s eyes on him.
“Oya, seems like we’re all done here! We can go visit Bo since the trial date is set already.
“Unfortunately, they’re only allowing us to visit him at like 3 so let’s go to the cafe down in the detective agency building to discuss the details of the case first.” Akaashi and Yaku give him a look.
“What? It’s cheap and good and we can’t be compromised there.”
“Yay!” Noya slaps Kuroo’s back, causing the latter to wince. “To Bokuto-san! Also food!”
“Kenma’s coming for the apple pie, isn’t he?” Yaku chuckles.
“Obviously.”
“Obviously he’s coming to see me.” Akaashi says with a smirk.
“You already have Bokuto!” Kuroo whines. “You took my bro, don’t take the object of my unconditional and pure love as well!”
“Maybe I should just take all of you.” Akaashi saunters up to Kuroo and flicks his forehead.
“Smooth, green eyes, smooth.”
“Thank you. I am aware of that.” Akaashi turns serious. “But seriously, treat my Kenma well or I’ll crush you.”
“If I don’t treat him well, I’d gladly crush myself before you do.”
“Fair enough, pain in the ass.” Akaashi begins walking in the direction of the exit, the others following close behind.“In the event you chicken out though, Koutarou and I are always up for grabbing Kenma for ourselves, so remember that Kuroo-san.”
“Me too, Chief!” Noya pips up.
“I’d be happy to date Kenma as well.” Yaku helpfully supplies.
“YOU ASSHOLES, WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON!”
-----
Downtown. Cafe (canteen) in Detective Agency’s Office.
November 12. 12:50 p.m.
“So we’re dealing with the possibility of a third party’s involvement, it seems.” Kuroo says, rubbing his arm where Kenma hit him for calling the detective agency’s “canteen” a “cute cafe”.
“Sugawara’s account can confirm it,” Yaku adds. “Tall, dark hair, fringe covering the left eye, looks like what would happen if Kuroo and Kenma had a kid apparently.”
Kuroo nearly spits out his drink, and Nishinoya does nothing but give a cheeky wink. Kenma, who is sitting between Kuroo and Akaashi, looks unfazed and continues chewing his apple pie.
He hit me but he still enjoys the apple pie anyways.
Kageyama and Hinata had decided to stay back to test the other samples again for traces of dna or the poison.
Akaashi whips out his phone to send a text.
“I can get Sakunami-kun to sketch a caricature based on that description, and ask him to send it to us.” Oh that’s right, Kuroo remembers, that kid is extremely talented at art, if he wasn’t an analyst, he totally would’ve become an artist.
“Good idea, Keiji,” Kenma pips up. “Oh, right. Can any of you tell me if a small vial of some sort was seen?”
They all shake their heads.
“Hmm… it occurs to me we don’t have any idea how the poison was contained in the first place. The atroquinine was in liquid form, but we are still unsure of the container that carried it.”
“That would be the turning point of our investigation I suppose… we need to investigate further.” Akaashi sighs.
“Maybe I could snoop around a little through the files and do a check up on atroquinine.”
“Okay but,” Nishinoya interrupts.. “I’d like to point out that something was a little off every time Suga-san mentioned the drinks. It seems there was a detail that was missing or he may have forgotten.”
“I think Daishou may have slipped on the drinks part too. He looked like he was trying to remember something, but couldn’t.”
Akaashi looks up from his phone.
“Anything else I should add to the description? Tall, dark hair that covers his left eye one eye ...And he looks like Kuroo-san and Kenma’s lovechild.”
“Ah, wait! He had a dragon tattoo on his right arm. Like in those super cool chinese fantasy movies!”
“Dork,” Yaku sighs fondly. Kenma turns away, hiding a smile behind his hands.
Akaashi however, looks serious.
“A dragon tattoo… Kuroo-san. Were there… any descriptions as to what color the tattoo was or if there were any specific details…?”
Yaku’s eyes widen.“You can’t possibly be hintin-”
“I am,” Akaashi says shortly.
“Daishou said the tattoo was green and had some kanji written on it too…”
“I… I’ll check the files.” Yaku’s face sullens and he slowly takes his phone out. “I’m going to make a call first, excuse me.”
“What’s this all about, Akaashi?” Kuroo is concerned at how worried both the analyst and the head detective look.
“If… well, Daishou probably didn’t know, so it isn’t his fault, but I have a feeling that tattoo is from one of the big mafia clans that was disbanded after a big drug bust that caught their head leaders,” Akaashi says, biting at his lip.
It isn’t long before Yaku returns to the table, looking nervous.
“Okay, you know what? It seems I have a little undercover work to do. The clan still has surviving members who have not been caught and arrested.”
“It makes sense that a third part is involved, then,” Kenma speaks up. “The burnt cloth seems to be from a type of clothing, a shirt or a glove maybe. If it really was from a glove, someone must’ve put the poison in Terushima’s glass when both Sugawara and Daishou weren’t paying attention.”
“So two instances, either that guy with the tattoo slipped it in when Daishou went to get the crates, or someone else did when Daishou put them out.”
“Ugh… looks like we’re pulling another all-nighter to review huh…” Nishinoya groans.
“I vote we go to Akaashi and Bo’s place because Bo isn’t at home.” Akaashi glares at Kuroo.
“May we, Keiji?”
“Uh. Yeah, alright, I suppose. Just don’t let Kuroo-san and Nishinoya do anything stupid.”
“That’s inevitable…” Yaku mumbles, purposefully loud enough for them all to hear.
“Yakkun, my love, I’m hurt~ I thought you loved me? We’ve been married for years!” Kuroo feigns a heartbroken expression.
Yaku cringes.
“Looks like we’ll need to stop at the supermarket.” Noya pipes up, disregarding the earlier comments. They all turn to look at Noya questioningly
“Y’know, for gari gari-kun popsicles and energy drinks!” Everyone groans at the thought of sugar and Nishinoya Yuu at 2 am.