Archive of Our Own

~1~

Over almost 6 months, a put-on smile became Adachi’s ingrained habit and a reflex to his accidental encounters with Yu. The fact that these encounters tended to happen at the same few locations helped a lot – by now, he almost expected to run into Dojima’s nephew at Junes or around the gas station, so he kept the friendly expression close at hand.

Seeing Yu on the threshold of his own house after opening the front door at nearly 10 pm wasn’t a part of the pattern and Adachi needed a few seconds to morph his exhausted frown of disdain into something much more forthcoming.

“Yu-kun? That’s a surprise.”

His eyes lowered to the school bag that Yu held in his hands in a somewhat unnatural way. When he thought about it, no student should have had the bag on them at such an hour at all.

Slightly furrowing his brow, Adachi raised his gaze back to Yu’s noticeably troubled face.

“I’m sorry to bother you so late. Can I come in and explain?”

Hardly on purpose, Adachi let the silence linger as he pondered over the possibility of accidentally giving himself out in some way. But he soon had to admit that even if this was the case, visiting him in his own house, alone, late in the evening would’ve been the dumbest and most reckless idea ever. 

“This would’ve been over-the-top stupid and insane, even for the crazy little Investigation Team leader.”

“Sure,” he smiled and stepped aside. “Come on in.”

***

The words ‘stupid’ and ‘insane’ got on whole new levels when in a few minutes Adachi found himself staring at Yu, who was sitting at the table with a stray ginger cat on his lap.

“I usually come to feed her and her two kids at the floodplain, but she wasn't in the usual place today,” Yu carefully patted the feline. “I found her hiding under the bench and thought she was sick at first.”

Adachi was too confused to be able to formulate any of the many questions he had in his head into a meaningful phrase.

“I asked around, found a vet, and took her to him. He said that her right front leg is broken and that it would be good if she stayed indoors for some time. But uh,” he dropped his eyes, “Nanako is allergic to cats.”

This answered at least half of the questions, but also created a great deal of new ones, making Adachi realize that it was high time for him to start voicing them.

“What about your friends’ houses?”

Yu pressed his lips in a line and shook his head.

“Chie has a dog, Yosuke has a, um,” Yu rubbed the left side of his neck, “..a cousin visiting him, so his place is cramped. Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise would all love to, but their homes are all stores and businesses, so their families can’t take risks.”

“And the 'detective prince'?”

“Naoto still wasn't home, looks like she's helping the precinct even late on Saturdays.”

The message was already more than clear, but Adachi still waited for Yu to state what he wanted straightforwardly.

Which he did just a few moments later.

“Could you please do me a huge favor and let her stay at your place for about 2 weeks?”

Furrowing his brow, Adachi started to ruffle the hair on the back of his head.

“Probably even less than that,” having interpreted the signal as the start of a negative answer, Yu followed up in the desperate hope to reverse the decision. “The doctor said that cats heal quite fast.”

“Look, Yu-kun, I-…”

“I’ve got all the necessary stuff,” he assured. “I just left it outside for now. There’s food, bowls, and a litterbox.”

Adachi was already slowly shaking his head.

“Sorry, kid, it’s just-…”

“And I can pay back by cooking for you in the evenings.”

For a few moments Adachi was silently staring at Yu, equally astonished and irritated by the lengths he was ready to go for a sick stray cat.

“Always playing a goddamn hero.”

“That’s a generous offer, but...” he closed his eyes and slowly shook his head again. “Sorry, I prefer girls to cook for me. Seeing a guy near the stove in my house would be weird.”

Yu pressed his lips together and lowered his eyes to the cat on his lap.

Almost half a minute of awkward silence passed and Adachi had no idea how to break it.

“So, is..” Yu suddenly started speaking again and clenched his hands into fists. “..Is ‘seeing a girl in the kitchen’ – the main condition?” He raised his gaze back up. “Would you agree if you did?”

“You’ve just said that Nanako-chan has allergies,” Adachi reminded him, but Yu shook his head.

“It won’t be Nanako.”

Confused, Adachi bent an eyebrow and blinked. He knew that Yu was friends with lots of girls, but he had serious doubts that any of them would agree to come cook for some total stranger. The whole premise sounded absurd.

He lazily lowered his eyes to the cat on Yu’s lap. Letting it stay overnight already felt like a significantly smaller bother than continuing to bargain.

With a sigh, Adachi shrugged.

“Yeah. If it’s a girl, then fine.” He chuckled dryly. “If you find one who agrees to this, that’s it.”

Content with the answer, Yu smiled and nodded.

“I will. Is tomorrow evening all right?”

Adachi couldn’t keep himself from smiling cynically at the naïve hope to find a cook so fast.

“Yeah. I have a day off, so anytime in the evening is fine.”

“Great! Then,” he looked at the cat, “she can stay here?”

“I guess so, yeah,” Adachi shrugged one more time and watched Yu carefully get up from the pillow and put the feline on it instead. The cat indeed felt unwell as she obediently stayed in place and just fixed her pensive eyes on the volunteering caregiver.

“It’ll be all right, I'll make sure to feed your kids after school. Just rest and don’t overdo it,” Yu muttered as he patted the cat’s head again. Then he shifted his gaze to Adachi and flashed a smile at him. “Thanks a lot, Adachi-san.”

“Glad to be of help,” he put on a smile in return and sighed inwardly, thanking his bad luck for it at least not being a dog.

~2~

After opening the front door of his house next evening and letting only Yu in, Adachi couldn’t help but smile conceitedly. He was already prepared to listen to the apologies that would confirm his yesterday’s doubts about easily finding a girl-cook, and the prospective of seeing Yu discouraged, lost, and disappointed seemed like good enough compensation for the wet floor he had to clean after the cat a few hours ago.

Yet, when Yu took off his shoes and lifted his eyes, he didn’t look lost or apologetic in any way.

“Do you have a large mirror somewhere?” Yu asked, holding his school bag in his hands.

“..Not really large, but yeah, there,” confused, Adachi pointed at the bathroom door to his left.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Yu decisively went inside the bathroom, leaving Adachi completely dumbfounded.

***

Adachi spent the next 5 minutes leaning his back against the opposite wall and trying to come up with any possible explanations to what was happening. But what he saw when the door finally opened was far beyond any of the theories he could ever come up with.

He literally felt his jaw drop.

“I’ve left the bag with my regular clothes in there, if you don’t mind,” Yu said in his usual unperturbed tone. “Is there anything specific you’d want for dinner, Adachi-san?”

Absolutely speechless and shocked, Adachi let his eyes travel over Yu’s getup – from the short braids and glasses down to the long skirt and stockings, and then back up.

“..Kid, are you.. out of your freaking mind?” he gave out a twitchy laugh at last. 

Slightly abashed, Yu rubbed his neck.

“We had this contest at school a few days ago, during the festival, where my friends and I had to dress like this. It’s not like it’s my hobby or something, I just.. thought that it would suit the situation, if the problem is with who you want to see as a cook.”

Adachi didn’t know what to mock first – the kind of entertainment school kids had these days or the naïve idea that some wig and clothes could somehow trick him into thinking this wasn’t a guy.

“So that’s what you meant by a girl from the very start?”

“I swear, I would’ve asked an actual girl, but the cooking of the ones I know is quite.. dangerous,” Yu shuddered from some unpleasant memory. “You said you didn’t want to see a guy near the stove, and,” he looked at his own clothes, “I thought this would work just fine.”

Unsure where even to begin to explain how cross-dressing for another guy was far from ‘fine’, Adachi covered his face with his palm and slowly shook his head. He never thought much of Yu’s sanity and could reckon countless situations when the kid appeared a complete moron in his eyes, but all this was on a whole another level.

At the same time, he realized that his phrasing the other day had indeed created this loophole. He hadn’t paid much attention to it only because he’d been too focused on coming up with something that would help him escape the whole ‘cat|dinner’ deal as fast as possible. 

That, and he would’ve never thought of such a crazy workaround anyway.

Through the somewhat parted fingers of the hand on his face, Adachi took another look at Yu, who was patiently waiting for his verdict. On second thought, the getup wasn’t all that terrible and, with a certain amount of mind abstraction at work, could indeed make him pass. Not that it mattered.

He had full rights to cancel the deal now, but getting no compensation for a day of cat care at all seemed like a waste. 

“I don’t have much food in the fridge,” Adachi sighed at last, as he removed his hand from the face and slowly headed inside the house, “so whatever you whip up from that is okay.” 

***

“Have you named her?”

Hearing the question, Adachi lifted his eyes from the plate with omurice and bent an eyebrow.

“I thought it has a name, doesn’t it? I mean, you said you’ve been taking care of it since summer.”

Yu, who was sitting at the low table right across, raised his eyes from the purring, half-asleep cat on his skirt.

“I was just wondering what kind of name you’d give her.”

While continuing to chew on the food, Adachi was silently looking at the cat for almost half a minute.

“Kegawa,” he said at last in a level tone.

The next moment Yu cracked up, and Adachi furrowed his brow.

“Hey, what’s so funny? You asked, I answered.”

“Sorry,” Yu was still smiling, “I just thought that you’re exactly the type of person to straightforwardly name a cat ‘Fur’.”

Unsure how to respond to that, Adachi simply lowered his eyes back to the plate.

“..As if you know what ‘type of person’ I really am.”

“So, what’s its actual name?” he asked aloud.

Yu shook his head, giving his braids a slight shake as well.

“I like ‘Kegawa-chan’. It suits her.”

Adachi just shrugged – he didn’t really care.

“How’s the omurice?”

“Great,” Adachi nodded and smiled. “Really great. You’re a talented cook, Yu-kun.”

“That was all I could make from what you had, sorry,” Yu smiled back and then nervously glanced at the feline on his lap again. “So, uh.. is.. our deal still valid.. or..?”

The voice was cautious, giving out just how desperately Yu hoped for a positive answer. Something about this fragile hope made Adachi feel good: he knew that he was in complete control of it and had the power to crush it anytime he wanted.  

“Well, I don’t mind eating some nice, healthy food for a while,” he said, deciding to enjoy this control for just a little longer. “So, I guess it is.”

Yu’s face expanded in a wide smile again.

“Thanks. I’ll come up with some more interesting dish next time, too.”

“Only if my fridge will allow you this, hah.”

Yu just smiled mischievously and didn’t reply.

“Please, enjoy the food,” holding Kegawa, he carefully got up and returned into the kitchen partition.

Out of the corner of his eye, Adachi could see Yu put the cat near her almost empty bowl and fill it with the food that he had brought yesterday. In the way that Adachi found ridiculously graceful, Yu crouched down near the bowl, holding his arms around the long skirt on his knees – so naturally as if he wore it every day – and watched the feline eat with a soft smile on his lips, muttering something nice to her from time to time.

“Well, aren’t you fitting right into your creepy image there, huh…”

“You're working tomorrow, Adachi-san? When are you getting home?” Yu looked at him and Adachi immediately returned his eyes to the plate.

“Mm, not earlier than 8 for the next four days, I think,” he answered. “I have to prepare a report for the briefing on Friday, so I’ll be staying late the whole week.”

“And I’ll be coming by at 9 then,” Yu smiled as he got back to his feet. “Is this all right?”

Adachi shrugged.

“Yeah. Fine by me.”

~3~

The amount of plastic bags Yu had in his hands the next evening was almost the same as on the night he had brought the cat in, which couldn’t but furrow Adachi’s brow.

“Could you carry this inside?” Yu handed him one of the two bags and started to take off his shoes.

Adachi opened the bag he was just given, almost prepared to see the two kittens that Yu had mentioned before inside - and felt his eyebrows shoot up the very next moment.

“Did you-..” he lifted his eyes, but had to turn around and make a few steps along the hallway after realizing that Yu already headed deeper into the house. “Did you go shopping for this?”

“Ah? Yeah,” Yu replied calmly as he went into the kitchen corner and put the second plastic bag on the counter. “Since you said you’d be back later today, I had more time. So I went to Junes to get some ingredients.”

Startled, Adachi continued to silently stand still in the room entrance with the bag in his hands.

“Hey, Kegawa-chan,” Yu crouched down near the cat that approached to greet him. “Doing well?”

After he slowly came up to the counter and put the bag he was holding near the other, Adachi looked at Yu, who was scratching the cat’s chin while sitting next to her in the exact same way he had been doing it yesterday. Just in his regular clothes this time.

Adachi hadn’t given it a thought before, but suddenly realized that Yu would most likely give up on the whole crossdressing shtick now. They hadn’t openly discussed it after dinner the other day, but his overtly unwelcoming and shocked reaction near the bathroom must have said enough.  

“So much for your stubborn overconfidence, eh? Looks like any kid needs some sort of encouragement to go on with their antics after all...”

Adachi was still immersed in his thoughts, when Yu got back to his feet.

“Could you put everything from the bag I gave you in the fridge, please?” he adjusted the school bag on his shoulder and returned in the hallway. “That’s mostly for tomorrow’s dinner anyway. I’ll be right back.”

The words pulled Adachi out of his pondering and made him turn around.

The bathroom door closed from the inside right in front of his eyes.

“...Or not.”

***

“You sure you don’t wanna eat?” Adachi gestured to the gyoza dumplings on his plate. “There’re a couple left, no?”

Yu shook his head.

“Thanks, I've had dinner. And you can have the leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow instead.”

“Hah, Dojima-san won’t let this slide for sure. He knows I never cook lunch for myself.”

“You can tell him I made it,” Yu smiled and then pressed his lips together as he lowered his eyes to his clothes. “..Just not about the dressing part.”

Not sure what was more bewildering – the fact that Yu felt confident wearing the cross-dressing getup in his house or that Yu wore it while still realizing how super weird this would look in other people’s eyes – Adachi replied with a slightly mischievous smirk.

“Dojima-san would kill me on the spot, kid. I won’t tell ‘im anything.”

Yu gave him a grateful smile in return.

“I’m still surprised that you went on with it, though,” Adachi added as he picked up another gyoza dumpling with the chopsticks.

“That was part of the deal, wasn’t it?” Yu raised an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah, but..” ruffling his hair, Adachi didn’t even know how to explain this. Exhausted, he gave up halfway and just let out a sigh. “..Nevermind. How’s the cat’s leg doing there?”

“She doesn’t look so much in pain when I touch the leg now, but I can’t tell if it’s not the painkillers,” Yu furrowed his forehead as he turned to the kitchen corner, where Kegawa was drinking water from the bowl.

“Well, a broken bone isn’t something that heals in a day. You’ll be taking it to a vet one more time?”

“A bit later, yeah,” Yu nodded. “She’s not causing you trouble?”

“Not being much of a fan of that litterbox is the only problem, I think. But it’s tiring enough,” Adachi screwed up his lips as he thought about having to clean the floor the next morning and evening too.

Yu guiltily pressed his lips together.

“..Yeah, I noticed when I checked the box - it was too clean. I heard of some sprays that can get her used to it, so I’ll try searching for one tomorrow.” He lifted his eyes. “She’s not a nuisance at night?”

“Not really,” Adachi admitted. “It’s probably the leg and your pills, but it just sleeps on one of the pillows near the table right until I get up in the morning. I would’ve expected some loud meowing from a cat used to living in the street.”

“She’s grateful for the care, in her own way,” Yu smiled. “You had a cat before, Adachi-san?”

“No. My parents didn’t allow pets and neither did every apartment I lived in ever since,” he replied in a level voice. “But I did meet stray cats, y’know. I’m well aware they can be kinda wild.”

“Right. Sorry,” still smiling, Yu turned his head back to Kegawa, who was now busy with washing her face.

In his turn, Adachi fixed his eyes on Yu’s profile and was silently examining it for a dozen seconds.

“What’s up with the glasses?” he finally asked as he picked up the last dumpling, eyes still on Yu. “Just for the image or you wear lenses when you don’t cross-dress?”

“No, my eyesight is fine,” Yu slowly slid the glasses off. “These are.. more like an accessory, yeah.”

“Fake ones then, huh...” Adachi was still lazily chewing on the gyoza. “Nicely done, that frame, glass, and all. Too nice for a place like Inaba, I’d even say.”

Trying hard to hide a satisfied smirk, Adachi watched Yu’s face give out unrest and fluster for a few seconds.

“Junes sure brings city-standards closer to rural places,” Yu chuckled at last.

“Yeah, guess it does,” Adachi let out a laugh in return and then put the chopsticks on the plate. “Thanks, Yu-kun. Can't remember the last time I ate home-made gyoza, if I ever did at all. They sure taste better than those from the store.”

Yu smiled and brought his hand to his right ear – to ruffle the hair above it like he often did, apparently – but remembered about the wig just in time to simply push one of the longer strands behind the ear instead.

“I wanted to make curry tomorrow, but now that I think about it, it’ll take more time,” Yu slightly furrowed his brow before looking Adachi in the eye. “Maybe you have a spare key, so I could come here a bit earlier?”

Keeping his face unreadable, Adachi took a few moments to consider the suggestion. He didn't see it as some sort of a cover-up motive for secretly exploring the house: with how absolutely carefree Yu had been behaving this whole time, the idea of being suspected was long out of the question. The kid really had nothing but the cat and cooking on his mind, that much was clear. Besides, Adachi had nothing to hide in the house anyway, so it was absolutely safe to let Yu wander in it.

But the very fact that he was rather easily all right with the worst brat of the whole gang loitering on his territory in his absence felt entirely wrong.

“I’ll also take care of any of Kegawa-chan’s mess in your stead,” Yu added. “So you won’t have to do the cleaning again.”

That was definitely the selling point.

“Sounds good,” Adachi answered almost immediately. “I don’t have a spare key, but I’ll leave mine under the front doormat tomorrow.” He smiled. “Come here anytime.”

~4~

To see the lights on in his own house while still being outside felt almost surreal. Even more so did the need to knock on his own door.

“Uh, just a minute,” Yu’s voice from inside the house replied to the knock. 

And it really took him around a minute to finally rush to the front door and open it. 

Frustrated from waiting, Adachi was already going to ask what the hell took him so long, but the moment he saw Yu, adjusting the yellow scarf on his uniform, he could tell.

“Welcome back,” Yu smiled while still struggling with the scarf.

Thanks to him being busy, Adachi had a few moments to recover from the phrase he hadn’t been addressed for so long that it sounded mind-boggling.

“..You, uh, just got here too?” he asked, instead of vainly trying to squeeze the standard answer out of himself.

“No, I’ve been here for a while. Curry’s almost ready, too,” Yu smiled somewhat guiltily, as if he were caught in some wrongdoing. “I just.. didn’t change into these clothes up until a few minutes ago.”

“Ah. Right, makes sense,” Adachi admitted before bending over and starting to unlace his shoes.

“So you aren’t doing it for your own fun after all, eh..? ”

“You’re.. fine with this?”

“Huh?” Adachi raised his face. “Why shouldn’t I be?”

“The deal was about your meals being cooked by a girl, but today it’s technically not, so…” confused, Yu rubbed his neck.

Adachi already knew Yu well enough to understand that he wasn’t joking, but this understanding didn’t make the line sound any less hysterical.

Unable to stifle a laugh, he shook his head.

“ “Technically?” Kid, it’s not like you putting on a skirt and a wig ever made me think that my dinner was prepared by some cute girl, y’know.”

“..It didn’t?”

“Of course not!” Adachi let out another laugh. “Not even for a second. You didn’t actually think it’d work, did you?”

With a sad smile, Yu dropped his eyes.

“..I see. Sorry.”

Adachi blinked at the unexpected reaction. What he himself just said seemed only logical and obvious to him, but at the back of his mind he had to agree that it was probably not something too pleasant to hear.

“Well, uh..” Adachi ruffled the hair on the back of his head. “Nothing to apologize here for, it’s...”

“Wait, who even cares about hurting his damn feelings?”

“It’s the cooking that matters, Yu-kun,” he said faster than his trail of thoughts developed further. “And you’re a splendid cook. So that’s good enough.”

“Thanks,” Yu forced another smile, making it clear that this compliment didn’t make him feel much better. “It’s just that.. I feel like I still failed my side of the deal.”

With his eyes closed, Adachi ruffled his hair again.

“Look,” he exhaled heavily. “Truth is, I just didn’t want any responsibility for the cat at all. So I simply mentioned that condition, knowing you wouldn’t find any girl, who’d agree to prepare dinners for a stranger.”

Yu didn’t say anything, but Adachi could definitely feel his surprised gaze on himself.

“I mean, yeah, I wouldn’t mind if you did find one, but I knew it wasn’t happening. And it’s not an illusion I should indulge myself with anyway,” Adachi slowly shifted his eyes to the side and let out a mirthless laugh. “Not like I’ll have a girlfriend, who'd love to cook for me, ever again, so why tease my own brain with something reminding me of that.”

Without letting Yu interfere at this point, Adachi went back to the carefree intonations in an instant.

“You do look, uh, unusual in these clothes, but they don’t turn you into a girl in my eyes or anything. Besides,” he chuckled, “having you as a great cook and a cute girl at once would’ve been actually pretty heartbreaking.”

“Why?” Yu bent his eyebrow.

“Ever heard of ‘too much of a good thing’?” Adachi addressed Yu a mischievous smile. “Wouldn’t want to fall for my boss’s young and capable niece, y’know.”

When Yu blinked, Adachi let out a satisfied laugh and patted him on the shoulder.

“Just kidding, of course. But you got me, right? The deal is fine.”

The corners of Yu’s lips curled upward.

“Thanks,” this time it felt genuine. “I’m glad it is.”

Smiling back, Adachi motioned to the kitchen with his chin.

“By the way, it smells terrific, but you sure your curry’s okay there on its own?” 

With a quiet ‘oh’, Yu hurried back to the stove, leaving Adachi in the hallway alone again. 

After heaving a silent sigh, Adachi started to take off his jacket, trying to not reflect on everything that just happened too much.

“Just another convincing performance – that’s all there is to it. Who needed to hear him whine or see his wry face for the rest of the evening anyway? And this was simply the fastest way to perk him up and-...”

“It’ll be ready in five minutes, is this okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

As he gave an almost immediate answer, Adachi closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled again, clenching his hands on the jacket.

“That’s all there is to it.”

***

“She was sleeping there when I arrived, too,” Yu smiled and, when Adachi handed him a wet plate, mopped it with a towel. “I didn't expect her to jump up there, with how her leg is.”

“Yeah, it never got on my bed before,” Adachi glanced at the cat who just made herself comfortable on the brown cover near the pillow, and then went on to wash the dishes. 

“You don’t mind?”

“No, not really,” Adachi shrugged.

“I think I’ll get her to a vet some day next week,” Yu said while mopping the cutting board. “I hope she gets better by then. Oh, and,” he turned to Adachi who was already turning off the tap, “I bought that spray. It should work to get her used to the box.”

“It’s been a mess today, too, right?” Adachi chuckled, mopping his hands with another towel.

“Yeah,” Yu rubbed his neck. “Sorry for having to take care of it in the mornings.”

“Hey, you’re paying back, so nevermind. And thanks for helping with the dishes.”

“I was also eating this time, after all,” Yu gave a shrug of his shoulders with a smile and then pointed at the hallway. “I’ll be changing clothes then.”

“Okay,” Adachi nodded and started to put the dishes and cutlery back into the cupboards and drawers.

Finished with that, he slowly neared his bed and set on its edge. He glanced at the TV and realized that he hadn’t been switching it on for the past few days. And didn’t have the slightest wish to do it. Then he looked to the left, at the peacefully sleeping cat – and found it strangely relaxing to watch her small body heave as she was breathing in her sleep.  

The moment Adachi uncertainly stretched out his hand to touch the cat’s fur, he heard the bathroom door close – and immediately retrieved his hand.

“Adachi-san, about tomorrow evening…”

He looked up at Yu - in his regular clothes again and with a school bag on his shoulder, his expression somewhat confounded but decisive at the same time.

“Not gonna make it here, right? Friends, TV-world and stuff? I knew it’d be like that at some point…”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Would you.. prefer it if I didn’t change into that attire anymore?”

Struck with an unexpected question, Adachi blinked.

“I realize now that my idea was ridiculous and useless, and that you dislike it,” Yu ruffled the hair above his ear, “but still wanted to ask you directly. So that there are no misunderstandings.”

The answer couldn’t be more obvious: the idea was indeed ridiculous – crazy even – and Adachi was sure he made his attitude to it clear right on the first day of Yu’s dressing trick. Had he received this sort of an open question back then, he would’ve easily said ‘yes’ without any hesitation. 

But now something was stopping him from doing it.

“C’mon, seriously? This is absurd . Who would ever want to see that laughable getup again?! His stupid dressing game makes me sick in my stomach and it’s-..”

“..It’s not that I outright dislike it, y’know,” Adachi, too, ruffled his hair, trying to ignore the voice in his head and concentrate on the situation at hand instead. “Like I said,  you look.. unusual in that. Not in a bad sense. And regarding uselessness, well...”

Looking at Yu, who already appeared more ‘unusual’ to him in his regular clothes than in a girl’s uniform, Adachi addressed him a somewhat apologetic smile.

“I think I do view you a bit differently depending on the looks, after all. Not “completely”. But it still, uh, makes for the ‘girl’s cooking’ image, I suppose? Even if you don’t actually cook in it, like today.”

“..Right, he’s made it clear today that he’d avoid dressing up when possible. He’s just your basic kid, who’s absolutely uncomfortable with all this…”  

“So, it’s.. working in the end?” Yu raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Looks like it is,” Adachi shrugged, still smiling. “I just needed to feel the contrast, seeing you back in your regular clothes, I guess.”

“..That’s why even though I don’t care about his getup at all, I gotta make him go on with it for a few more days.”

“All right,” Yu nodded and adjusted the bag on his shoulder, letting out a slight chuckle. “So, tomorrow as usual?”

“Guess so, yeah.”

“Could you leave the key again?”

“Sure.”

“See you tomorrow then, Adachi-san,” he raised his hand in a goodbye-gesture. “Bye, Kegawa-chan.”

A couple of moments later, after Yu put on his shoes, the front door closed from the outside.

Still mulling over his own recent reply, Adachi didn’t move and simply stared at the floor for about 5 more minutes. When he finally accepted the logical reasoning his mind had offered him, he slowly exhaled and turned his head to the left.

“Your caretaker’s seriously going out of his way for you, y’know?”

At the sound of his voice, the cat opened her eyes.

“And dangerously so. I’m the last person in this town anyone, let alone he, should get this close to.”

Kegawa blinked sleepily.

“..Though I kinda feel like I’m being put off my stride here as well,” Adachi muttered, while emptily looking at the covers with a slightly furrowed brow.

In reply, Kegawa just yawned and then closed her eyes back.

“Yeah, right. Like you give a damn about any of it,” Adachi let out a sharp sigh, got to his feet, and headed to the fridge for a can of beer.

~5~

“Adachi, uh,” Dojima rubbed his stubbled cheek, “I know you were supposed to finally have a day-off this Thursday, but I’ll need you to work on it. Friday too. Not that you’re good with the paperwork, but some help now is still better than nothing.”

“That is an inspiring compliment, Dojima-san,” Adachi chuckled and then turned back to his desk. “Sure, no problem.”

Dojima raised an eyebrow and let out a laugh.

“ “No problem”? I expected at least 10 minutes of your usual whining and stupid jokes about how you’ll soon collapse from overworking.”

“Well, not that it will change anything, right?” Adachi shrugged as he lazily opened his work laptop.

Standing next to him, Dojima frowned.

“Adachi. You alright?”

“Huh?” Adachi raised his eyes to his partner. “Yeah, sir, why?”

Dojima was still knitting his brow.

“..Come to think of it, you’ve been whining a lot less these past few days,” he muttered. “And those weird lunchboxes you suddenly started bringing instead of your regular cup ramen..” His eyebrows suddenly shot up. “Wait...” 

As he put the two facts together, Dojima smirked.

“Looks like someone here got himself a girl, huh?” He gave Adachi a strong pat on the back and chuckled somewhat proudly. “Could’ve shared the good news.”

Adachi’s eyes widened in shock.

“W-wh-.. Huh?? Dojima-san, that’s not.. I-...”

“Feel free to invite her to our house for dinner if things keep going well,” Dojima said as he was already leaving the office room. “Nanako would be glad to meet her.”

When the door behind him closed, Adachi slammed his eyes shut and immediately buried his face in his palm.

“She sure would…”

***

“Welcome back,” Yu smiled and then motioned to the floor with his chin. “Kegawa-chan beat me to the door.”

Adachi looked at the cat, who was smelling the plastic bag in his hands, and snickered.

“Someone sure is getting all active in here, eh?”

“..Um, about that...” pressing his lips together, Yu shifted his eyes from the cat to the bottom of the front door. 

After turning around, Adachi saw a few rather visible scratches on it.

“..I guess she was trying to get outside,” Yu muttered guiltily. 

“Yeah, she was meowing near here last night too…” Adachi recollected. “Probably missing her kids and stuff.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear in time to stop her.”

Ruffling the hair on the back of his head, Adachi was looking at the scratches for a while before letting out a sigh.

“Well, I just hope the sweet old landlady won’t charge me more than some 10 thousand yen for this…”

“I’m really sorry. They aren’t too deep, so I’ll find a way to paint it tomorrow,” Yu promised.

“Nah, doing something about it now is useless – more scratches can add up anytime,” Adachi shrugged. “We’ll figure something out later.”

Yu kept his lips in a tight line for a few seconds and only parted them a single moment before Adachi spoke up on his own, taking the chance to say something away from him.

“Here. What your text said you needed.”

After handing Yu a small plastic bag, Adachi bent over to finally unlace his shoes.

“..Ah, thanks. Sorry for making you run an errand, too,” Yu looked inside the bag. “I’m so used to always having fish and vegetables at home that I usually don’t even look for them in the store. I only realized you don’t have them when I already started cooking.”

“Whoa, always having fish in the fridge? Living the life at Dojima-san’s, huh,” Adachi chuckled after he took off the shoes. “And nevermind. I haven’t been to Junes in a while, so it was nice to pay a visit there. What is it you’re cooking this time?”

Yu smiled somewhat mischievously.

“Nimono.”

Adachi’s lips screwed up on their own, and Yu quickly raised his free hand, prepared to follow up.

“I know it was a risky idea, but.. with how nimono is probably the only dish that doesn’t have a ‘regular’ recipe, I thought I could try making it the way you’d enjoy it, based on what you said you disliked about it.”

Adachi couldn’t argue – nimono indeed tasted very different from household to household. Yet he couldn’t fight the bias he already had against the dish either.

“After more than a week of eating your dinners, I don’t doubt your cooking genius, Yu-kun, but…” with a smile, he shrugged, “Don’t get your hopes up here, ‘cause I’m not sure nimono I’d enjoy even exists.”

***

“Except it does.”

“So, how is it?”

Even if Yu tried, he couldn’t hide the anxiety in his voice, and hearing it, Adachi chuckled.

“I don’t know how, but this is something that shouldn’t be even leveled with the ‘nimonos’ I ate before,” looking straight at Yu, he smiled. “It’s awesome.”

Relieved, Yu let his tensed shoulders relax and returned a smile.

“Then the risk was worth it, after all.”

“It certainly was!” after putting a piece of a steamed potato in his mouth, Adachi pointed at Yu with the chopsticks. “Now my esteem of your cooking talent is at the point where it can’t get any higher, I guess.”

Still smiling, Yu adjusted the eyeglass temple on his right ear.

“Thanks.”

“It was the plan, wasn’t it?” Adachi smirked.

“Sort of, yeah,” Yu admitted with a soft laugh and then, after raising his eyes, swiftly got up to his feet. “Kegawa-chan!”

Surprised at his stern voice, Adachi turned his head and watched Yu rush to the kitchen corner and get the cat off the counter.

“I told you not to get up there,” he scolded the cat after taking her down to the floor.

Kegawa meowed loudly in return and disappeared in the hallway.

“She talks back now, huh,” Adachi snickered when Yu returned and sat down at the low table opposite him again.

“Yeah,” Yu exhaled heavily. “I’m glad she can jump easily now, but it creates more trouble.”

“At least she got used to her box. You’re taking her to a vet soon?”

Pressing how lips together, Yu didn’t reply at once.

“..I did today,” he said, looking at the table surface.

“Oh?” Adachi bent an eyebrow. “And? Another week and she'll be fine?”

There was another pause.

“She’s.. fine now , and the vet said she’s safe to be back with her family already.”

Adachi continued to chew on the food, but some unpleasant feeling in his throat made it almost tasteless.

He took his time with the reaction until swallowing. 

And then immediately forced a smile.

“Well, I guess that’s it, huh,” he said in a casual voice. “The cat’s fine, so the deal’s off as of tomorrow. You don’t have to come here anymore.”

Still not looking up, Yu cracked a smile too.

“..I guess so.”

“Great then!” Adachi added, silently wondering if there’s too much enthusiasm in his tone to tell that it’s fake. “Back to how things have always been.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry for getting you involved in all this,” Yu smiled wryly and got up to his feet again. “..I’ll go make some tea.”

Adachi looked down at his plate and suddenly realized that he completely lost appetite. Despite being actually tasty this time, nimono seemed to be a cursed dish for him no matter what.

He spent some time staring at the plate before sighing and getting to his feet as well.

“You don’t like it after all?” Yu raised a worried eyebrow when Adachi neared the counter with a half-empty plate.

“No, it’s good, I’m just.. not really hungry, I think,” he replied. “I’ll heat it up later.”

Yu answered with a weak smile that Adachi couldn’t get the message of, and then turned his eyes to the electric kettle that he had been staring at since the moment he had switched it on.

After leaving the plate on the counter, Adachi turned around and leaned against it, standing right next to Yu but looking the opposite way.

The quiet sound of the water heating up filled the silence for a few moments.

“I have to apologize for lying to you,” Yu said in a low voice, his eyes still on the kettle. “Thing is.. Nanako isn’t allergic to cats. I could’ve kept Kegawa-chan at our place.”

Stunned, Adachi turned his head to the left and looked at Yu’s face in profile.

“When I was walking back home with her, I just.. had this thought, that maybe a cat could liven up your tiring routine and make your evenings less lonely. I didn’t plan on this idea to turn into the whole deal with dinners and cross-dressing,” Yu smiled softly, “but it all ended up being fun for me. And I hope it was for you, too, if even a little.”

“.."A little", eh..?”

The kettle switched off - and Yu picked it up, bringing it to the two mugs.

Even when the second mug was filled with water, Adachi still didn’t know how to react. But then his eyes suddenly fixed on Yu’s hair.

“Your braid seems off,” Adachi said before he could think about whether there was any sense in such a line at all.

Visibly surprised at an abrupt change of topic, Yu slowly lowered his eyes to the left braid.

“Ah, yeah,” he chuckled. “The rubber band is kind of weak on this one and I didn’t even notice when the hair got unplaited today. Braiding it on myself turned out to be not as easy as when I used to braid Nanako’s hair a couple of times. So it looks odd.”

“Could’ve used the mirror or taken the whole thing off.”

“Yeah, that sure would’ve been faster,” Yu admitted as he put the kettle down. “But I just wanted to see if I could do it. Guess I'll have to fix it la-...”

Adachi didn’t even realize when he stretched out his hand and took the rubber band off Yu’s left braid. Ignoring the startled look he received in return, he put the band on the counter and slowly unplaited the hair.

“Don’t move.”

He raised his other hand too and started to carefully braid the grey, wavy strands back.

After taking a few moments to catch up with what was happening, Yu smiled and peered into Adachi's face.

“You know how to braid hair, Adachi-san?” he asked, obediently not making a single move.

“I’m a guy, not an idiot.”

The curve of Yu's smile got somewhat bigger, but he didn’t say anything and just continued to silently gaze into the face in front of him.

Avoiding eye contact and trying not to let his fingers touch Yu’s ear, cheek, or neck even for a split second, Adachi was slowly braiding the hair. This was definitely the shortest distance he had ever been away from the “annoying brat”, and he still couldn’t believe that he was the one to willingly close in. His judgement was already nagging at him in the back of his mind, accusing him of hypocrisy and reminding about the real state of the things.

But all he wanted at the moment was to quietly make this one braid without thinking about everything too much.

When Adachi fastened the hair with the rubber band and let go of the braid, in his head he also let go of the entire absurd and stupid illusion that he somehow ended up losing himself in over the past ten days.

“Thanks, Adachi-san.”

“You’re welcome,” he muttered as he took one of the two mugs and pushed away from the counter.

***

“I’ll be taking the food and the pills - they can be useful in the future.”

“What’s with the bowls and litterbox? I’m throwing them out?”

“..Yeah, I guess,” Yu muttered and adjusted the slightly jumping bag on his shoulder. “Calm down, Kegawa-chan. You'll be with your kids again soon, just wait a little,” he looked at Adachi. “I’ll find some good paint tomorrow and get back here to-…”

“Don't,” Adachi decisively cut Yu off.

“But the door-...”

“I’ll take care of it myself.”

Pressing his lips together, Yu nodded.

“..All right. Sorry for that.”

“It’s fine.”

Adachi could tell that his voice sounded too dry to prove that something was actually fine, but he wasn’t capable of the usual high-quality performance at the moment.

“I’ll be going then,” Yu exhaled as he turned around and faced the door. “Good night.”

“Yeah, good night.”

Adachi expected him to leave the very next moment, but Yu wasn't moving even after slightly opening the door.

“..You probably don't want to hear this from a guy, but.. it feels good to be around you, Adachi-san,” Yu smiled at him over the shoulder. “I'm sure that someday you'll meet a girl who'd enjoy your company. And would be happy to cook for you, too.”

Before Adachi came up with something to say in reply to the staggering line, the front door closed from the outside.

In a few moments, he almost mechanically locked it, turned off the lights in the hallway, and went back, succumbing to the crushing silence and emptiness of his room.

~6~

Standing near the door outside his house the next morning, Adachi bent over on a reflex, intending to put the key under the doormat.

He realized just in time there was no need for that anymore and straightened his back with the key in his hand.

“Back to how things have always been…”

After staring at the key for a few moments and then putting it in the back pocket of his pants, Adachi turned around and unwillingly headed out to the station on what was supposed to be his day off.