Work Text:
'I am not having a good day,' Detective Michimiya Yui thought as she sprinted down the alleyway, her feet barely touching the pavement as she propelled herself forward. Her target was just ahead: Futakuchi Kenji, known seller of some sort of illicit substance, Yui wasn't sure what. He called them potions, but Yui scoffed at the name. Whatever it was, she and Futakuchi had come to an agreement that he'd stop selling and she wouldn't bring him in. That was until she heard reports of people taking some kind of liquid that was giving the takers near superhuman strength. Yui knew without a doubt that Futakuchi was behind it, and left to find him. She had been tailing him all day, and the one time she stopped to tie her shoe was the time he had to see her. He recognized her instantly and booked it, leaving Yui with three options: finish tying her shoe then chase him, chase him with her shoe untied, or let him get away. Yui chose the second option. She regretted it immediately, but she'd made her bed, now she had to sleep in it.
"Come on, Detective," Futakuchi shouted over his shoulder, "do we have to do this today?"
"We wouldn’t have to do anything if you'd stop violating the terms of our agreement!" Yui snapped, barely keeping herself upright as she tripped over her shoelace.
"I have done no such thing!" Futakuchi said. "And even if I did, what's a few thousand yen between me and my clients? I have a lifestyle to maintain!"
"Because whatever drugs you're selling to them is making my job ten times more difficult!"
"They're not drugs, Detective, we've been over this!"
Yui rolled her eyes, "I refuse to use the word 'potion' to describe what you sell! It's ludicrous!"
Yui thought she heard Futakuchi mutter something about "normies not understanding", but he was just a little too far away to hear. She was falling behind, she had to catch up. Yui pushed herself forward, her feet slapping against the pavement as she steadily gained on Futakuchi.
"You know, Detective," Futakuchi called back to her, "you should really slow down."
"Why's that?" Yui asked.
"Cause you're gonna trip on your-."
The words had barely left Futakuchi's mouth when it happened. Yui brought one foot down, but when she went to lift the other, she met resistance. Her world tilted and for half a moment, she hung in the air. Then the concrete rushed up to meet her. Pain exploded through her body as she lay face down on the ground.
"Ooo, that had to hurt," Yui could hear as Futakuchi kept running. "Sorry Detective, better luck next time!"
"Asshole," Yui grumbled into the pavement.
Pushing herself to her knees, Yui took quick stock of her body. She could feel blood gushing from her nose, and her knees felt a little worse for wear, but otherwise she seemed okay.
"That looked painful," said a gentle voice from somewhere above Yui. "Are you alright?"
Yui looked up towards the source of the voice. She froze, eyes wide and cheeks growing pinker by the second. Standing in front of Yui was the most gorgeous woman Yui had ever seen. She had on a short sleeved white blouse that showed off toned, tattooed arms, a flowing black skirt that reached her knees and tall black boots. Her raven hair was pulled back in a loose bun, her gray eyes flashing with barely contained amusement behind rectangular glasses. She was giving Yui a gentle smile and oh god, she had a little beauty mark.
'Oh god, I'm gay,' Yui thought.
The woman was also holding a hand out to Yui and giving her an expectant look. Right, she needed to function like a normal human being. She could be a disaster lesbian later.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you," Yui said, grabbing the woman's hand and pulling herself up. "Just a little frustrated, I've been tailing him all day…"
"Are you with the police?" the woman asked, her tone neutral, but oddly so.
Yui realized she was still holding the woman's hand, so she gave it a brief shake. "Detective Michimiya Yui."
"Shimizu Kiyoko," the woman replied.
Shimizu Kiyoko, what a beautiful name.
"Your nose is bleeding," Shimizu pointed out.
Yui winced; somehow, she had forgotten about that. Shimizu reached into a pocket in her skirt, pulling out a packet of tissues and passed them to Yui. Yui took a few and pressed one to her nostrils.
"Thank you," she said.
"So, what did Kenji do this time?" Shimizu asked.
"That's official police business," Yui replied.
Shimizu regarded Yui for a moment, her gray eyes locked with Yui's brown ones. After a moment, she spoke, "You think he's selling something illicit. There's been a rash of people with inhuman abilities and you think he's behind it."
Yui blinked, her blood running cold. She lowered the tissue from her face as she whispered, "How did you-?"
"Luckily for Kenji—unfortunate for you—he's not," Shimizu continued. "This is my territory and I don't allow the sale of anything that's not safe for normies to consume. It has to be someone else."
There was that word again, "normie".
"Mind explaining what you mean?" Yui asked. "And did you just admit to selling too? I could take you in for that."
Shimizu shrugged at Yui. "You won't. What I do is within legal parameters."
Yui's face flushed; she was way out of her depth here.
"What is it that you do?" Yui asked.
It was Shimizu's turn to falter. She glanced around the alley, and then turned back to Yui. "What do you know about what Futakuchi does?"
"He makes and sells drugs?"
Shimizu shook her head, "He called it something else."
Yui didn't like where this was going.
"He 'makes potions'?" Yui asked, making air quotation marks as she spoke.
Shimizu gave Yui a gentle smile.
"Exactly."
***
If they hadn't been sitting on a bench, Yui would have collapsed to the ground. Shimizu had just finished explaining magic to Yui, and Yui hadn't made up her mind if Shimizu was insane or not. She didn't want to lean towards "insane", but…
"There's no way magic exists," Yui murmured.
Shimizu chuckled, a soft sound that tugged at Yui's heartstrings. "It's a lot to take in, I'll admit."
"So you make potions?"
Shimizu nodded, "And read minds, but potions are my primary business."
"Do you… sell them yourself?" Yui asked.
"No, I sell them to a friend of mine a few blocks from here," Shimizu said. "He runs a magical goods shop."
Shimizu sat up a little straighter before she continued, "Actually, he might be able to help us."
"How?
"My guess is someone bought my potions and modified it. I make an energy potion that's a few ingredients off from a strength potion. I'll bet someone's been buying them off of Daichi and then selling them to normies."
Yui got to her feet. She held her hand out to Shimizu to help her off of the bench. Once she was standing, Yui dropped her hand.
"Let's go see this Daichi, then."
Shimizu led the way to a small corner store a few blocks away. Yui raised an eye at the combination of mint green walls, wisteria colored trim, and a jet black door.
"The shop was painted this color when Daichi bought it," Shimizu explained. "Although, he keeps it this way because his boyfriend's an artist and liked the colors."
Yui wasn't sure if her face had given her away or if Shimizu had read her mind. She guessed the latter, because Shimizu blushed and looked away.
"Sorry," she whispered.
"It's okay, but, uh, maybe don't?"
Shimizu nodded before she opened the jet black door, ushering Yui inside the shop. It looked like the kind of shop to sell magical items; there were plants and glass bottles everywhere. Two men—one with dark hair, one with gray—stood near the counter, talking and laughing to themselves. A black cat rested in an empty space on a nearby bookshelf. It was quite the picturesque scene.
"Oh, hey Kiyoko," one of the men—the one with the short dark hair—said, turning away from his conversation partner. "You've brought a friend."
"Daichi, it's good to see you," Shimizu replied. "Nice to see you again, Koushi."
"Likewise, Kiyoko."
"This is Detective Michimiya Yui," Shimizu said. "I'm helping her with an investigation."
"Unofficial investigation," Yui corrected. "This hasn't officially been cleared by my bosses."
The two men exchanged a brief glance before turning their attention back to the women.
"How can we help?"
"Daichi, has anyone bought an excessive amount of my potions recently?" Kiyoko asked. "Yui thinks that someone may have been selling modified potions to normies."
Yui blushed a little at the use of her given name. No one else seemed to have noticed. Maybe Shimizu did, but the others didn't. Daichi tapped a finger to his lips, lost in thought.
"They might have… Koushi, why don't you and Detective Michimiya go to the back and grab some coffee while Kiyoko and I look over my inventory ledger?"
"Sounds like a plan," Koushi said, giving Daichi a quick peck on the cheek.
Koushi motioned for Yui to follow him and led her into a back room. He gestured for her to sit at the table before moving to the counter against the back wall. He grabbed a cloth, ran it under some water from the sink and handed it to Yui.
"You have some dried blood on your face," he explained.
"I tripped earlier while chasing someone," Yui told him as she took the cloth and wiped her face. "Untied shoelace. Shimizu saw the whole thing."
Koushi winced, "That's rough, but I feel you. I quite literally ran into Daichi the first time I met him."
"Are you…?" Yui began to ask. Koushi raised an eyebrow when she paused. Unable to bring herself to ask, Yui waggled her fingers in the universal symbol for "magic user".
Koushi let out a laugh, "No, but you wouldn't be the first to assume that. It's the hair."
Yui sighed in relief; she wasn't alone.
"How long did it take you to adjust to the magic thing?" Yui asked.
"About five minutes," Koushi said, turning to grab two cups of coffee. "You had the easy explanation, if Kiyoko was the one to tell you about it. I learned via a talking cat that turned into a shop keep and a fancy light show."
Yui had a hard time imagining Daichi turning into a cat; he seemed more like a dog person.
"So Daichi can turn into a cat?"
"No, but the cat on the bookshelf out there can turn into a human."
"Oh."
Koushi passed Yui a cup of coffee before sitting at the table. Sensing that she was incredibly overwhelmed, he reached out and covered her hand with his. She appreciated the gesture.
"I've been in touch with the magic community for about two years now," Koushi said. "You get used to it pretty quick."
"Thanks, but I don't think I'll be involved with it much longer," Yui told him. "I'm hoping Kiyoko and Daichi can handle whoever's distributing this stuff. I don't know how well the department would handle magic drug dealers."
Koushi had a funny look in his eye as he replied, "I'm not sure Kiyoko would want to do it without you."
"What do you mean?"
"Kiyoko doesn't connect to people easily," Koushi said. "I think she's taken a liking to you."
Yui couldn't keep the blush off her face as she asked, "Do you think so?"
Koushi grinned. "She wouldn't have pulled you up off that sidewalk if she didn't."
Feeling better, Yui leaned back in her chair. "So," she began, "did you really convince your boyfriend to keep the building those awful colors?"
***
Hours later, Kiyoko and Daichi found their answer; a set of twins named the Miyas had been hanging around the shop recently and had purchased a number of potions. Kiyoko seemed to know who they were and promised Yui that she'd be in touch about their whereabouts soon.
"Thank you for all of your help today," Yui said. "I'd still be chasing Futakuchi if it weren't for you."
"It's been my pleasure, Yui," Shimizu replied. "Thank you for not arresting me when I said I sold potions. And I'll have a word with Futakuchi about giving you a hard time in the future."
"Shimizu, is there anything I can do to repay you?" Yui asked. "You spent all day helping me; I really want to make it up to you."
A strange look crossed Kiyoko's face. She seemed to weigh her words carefully before she spoke.
"Well, first things first, call me Kiyoko. Shimizu is too formal. Second… when I read your mind earlier, I couldn't help but notice that… you found me attractive."
Yui's face went from pink to scarlet in under two seconds.
"Well, I mean, you know how it is, you know," she stammered.
Kiyoko pressed a finger to Yui's lips. Yui stopped babbling.
"I was hoping we could go out to dinner sometime," Kiyoko said.
Yui, not trusting herself to speak, nodded. Kiyoko smiled, pulling her finger away to press her lips to the corner of Yui's mouth.
"I'll be in touch," she said before vanishing into the night.
Yui watched Kiyoko slip away, barely remaining upright as her knees threatened to give out. Today had been a good day after all.