Chapter Text
It was easier being in the waiting room.
Out there, Sakuya could barely think over the throbbing pain coming from his left leg and the commotion going on around him. He kept himself busy by talking to those waiting and entertaining children who thought it was so cool to meet a police officer. Some of the people there were surprised that he was made to wait so long before seeing a doctor, but he just smiled and told them that the public should come first, and his injury wasn’t critical anyways. He could stand to wait a little longer.
He failed to mention that it was his own form of painful procrastination.
Now he was stuck with his own thoughts as he lay on the examination table for the nurse to bring him some crutches. He was blindsided by the doctor’s diagnosis of a sprained ankle, telling him he had to keep off his foot for three weeks. But that wasn’t what was on his mind.
The only thing he could think about was that the young man at the juror… Kairi, was it? … was the red thief that they had been chasing all along. And it didn’t take a genius to piece together who the other two thieves were.
Sakuya felt dizzy. He pinched the bridge of his nose trying to stem the oncoming migraine, but he couldn’t stop his mind from spinning out of control. Umika’s a thief. Umika’s a criminal.
Umika’s a liar.
“I’m coming in.” The nurse mercifully interrupted, barging into the room with a pair of crutches in hand. “I’ve already adjusted them to your height.” She carefully helped Sakuya off the table and gave him some guidance on how to use them. After a quick review of some paperwork, and answering some of Sakuya’s questions, she politely made her exit.
Sakuya headed to the reception desk, where the receptionist greeted him. When he asked about where Kairi – no, the suspect – had been brought in, she pointed him to the west wing of the second floor. Halfway towards the elevators, he realized how out of it he was when he couldn’t even manage to give a compliment to the young, and admittedly adorable, receptionist.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get Umika’s face out of his mind. Her smile, her unbearably cute laugh. He felt betrayed, both by her and his own feelings. As a cop he was trained to look for the facts of a case, but he had never been trained on how to accept them. This wasn’t something he wanted to learn on the job.
The elevator opened to the second floor and he shuffled out towards Kairi’s room. But before he could make it even a few feet out of the elevator, someone ran into him and he was thrown to the floor.
Sakuya landed with a thud, his crutches clattering as they came down with him. He hissed as his injured ankle flared in pain and went to grab it. As he was deciding on what choice words he was going to say, he looked up at the man who mowed him down.
“K-Keiichiro?”
Keiichiro just stood in front of him, his eyes wide with surprise. He held a small, paper coffee cup – or what was left of it. It had been crushed on impact, and Sakuya could see it’s contents had spilled all over Keiichiro’s shirt and was making a puddle on the floor.
“I’m so sorry Keiichiro!” Sakuya quickly tried to get up but stepped on his injured foot again. He hissed again at the new wave of pain.
“It’s not your fault. I should have seen where I was going.” Keiichiro put the cup down and grabbed Sakuya’s arm, helping him up. “How’s your leg?”
“Doctor said I sprained my ankle and I have to keep off of it for 3 weeks.” Sakuya balanced himself one again on his crutches. “Can you believe that?”
“You should be thankful. You could have wound up like...” Keiichiro’s voice trailed off.
“How is… how is the suspect doing?” Sakuya couldn’t bring himself to say his name. He wasn’t ready to admit that it was all real.
“Kairi is doing well, all things considered.” Keiichiro turned to the window, looking out into the night. “If it wasn’t for his suit, I could have…” Sakuya heard Keiichiro’s voice quivering and quickly tried to change the subject.
“So… he’s really the red Lupin, huh? Does this really mean that the other people at the Juror…”
“That’s my conclusion too. Kairi was smart enough not to bring them up though during our brief conversation though. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Keiichiro gestured at his soaked jacket, “I’m going to try to clean myself up.”
By the time Keiichiro had freshened up and come back with fresh coffee, Sakuya had managed to make his way to Kairi’s room. Keiichiro caught Sakuya staring through the doorframe, watching Kairi as he slept. Keiichiro came up besides Sakuya and handed him one of the cups he was carrying. Sakuya took it wordlessly, still fixated on Kairi.
“He said they were stealing to bring back their loved ones.” Keiichiro explained in a low voice. Sakuya immediately turned his head and looked at Keiichiro.
“What does that mean?”
“From what I gathered, those string of disappearances that happened a year ago – those were actually murders perpetuated by a gangler named Zamigo.” Keiichiro took a much needed sip of his coffee. “But they were promised by someone that if they could gather the Lupin Collection, they’d each have one wish granted. And all three of them want their loved ones back.”
Sakuya turned his gaze back to Kairi, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath. He thought about how someone so young could turn to crime for just the slim chance of seeing someone again. Being sheltered for most of his life, he couldn’t imagine the pain they were going through, but at least he was beginning to understand.
Maybe Umika is a liar, he admitted. But she’s a liar for love.
And that... that he could understand.