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Kato Haru is an enigma.
For all Daisuke knows, the inspector hates him with all his being -- hates Daisuke for smoking cigars at the rooftop because of that one time he blew smoke at him during their first meeting. Hates Daisuke for offering him monetary compensation, for repayment of damages caused to his bruised ego.
That's okay. Daisuke's used to dealing with difficult people, and that is by treating them with indifference. He won't repay Kato with the same intensity of hatred. He won't even repay him with hatred of any forms at all. Anyway, he's back here in Japan for a reason, one that doesn't involve a hot-headed police officer.
But they get to spend a weekend together in Hong Kong. And the indifference Daisuke's come to cultivate dissipates slowly just as Kato's treatment to him changes, offering him a slice of his inedible roast beef after the symposium because he saw him not bothering to get a plate at the catering.
Slowly, Kato's frowns directed to him morphs into smirks and teasing grins, an annoying expression Daisuke finds amusing. And so he fires banters and remarks made in jests in return.
Slowly, Kato starts calling Daisuke's phone, even if it's something as trivial as a lost dog. He opens his house, lends his clothes, and cooks dinner for him without much prompting. He doesn't complain when Daisuke told him he doesn't want to go home.
Kato Haru is an enigma, Daisuke thinks in his drunken haze. He watches the man, who's sprawled all over his bed, snoring lightly while drool trickles down his open mouth. He reaches a tentative hand, brushing a stray of taupe locks away from his forehead.
The thought persists, continues to as Kato pulls open the locked door of the panic room. And at that very moment, Daisuke knows.
With every day that passes, he knows more and more until Kato himself has expressed it verbally.
He hates Daisuke's ways and his principles.
But he cares.
He believes in him.
At that very moment, Daisuke knows.
That he's afraid.
He's afraid that Kato will involve himself in this dangerous game the Kambe family has been playing for years.
He's afraid that Kato will encounter the same demise Daisuke's own mother met.
And so he pushes him away.
He pushes until Kato is far from his reach, far enough that he goes back to despising the millionaire as who he is.
But they find each other, anyway. They find themselves walking the same path once more, as if a string has pulled them back together.
And Daisuke is such a foolish man to have done that in the first place.
Because Kato cares deeply for him, has tended to his injuries and has followed him when he has no reason to.
He cares enough to let himself get shot to the thigh to apprehend the real perpetrator.
He cares enough to give Daisuke his badge back, a silent proposal for them to work together once more.
He cares enough.
Cares so much.
So much so that he holds Daisuke in his arms during the first night they spend in England, rushing to his bedroom after hearing him scream. He holds Daisuke tenderly and lets him bury his face on the older man's chest.
Kato doesn't ask what it is that made Daisuke scream. He doesn't push like how Daisuke has pushed him away that time. Kato just keeps him close until Daisuke's breathing evens out.
He doesn't know why Kato stays when Daisuke is this fucked up in the head. He doesn't know why Kato tolerates him when they have such different views of the world. Surely, there is a limit to how much a person can care for another, especially for someone as difficult as Kambe Daisuke.
Kato Haru is an enigma.
Maybe someday, Daisuke will try to understand why.
Maybe he will try to make sense of why he wants to push Kato away just as much as he wants him near. Or perhaps why he always finds himself wanting to share his innermost thoughts to the man, a very thing he's never done to anyone.
Maybe he will come to learn how to put down his defenses and just lets Kato in his life like how he entered Daisuke's bedroom.
Or why Daisuke's afraid of acknowledging the emotion he feels.
He doesn't know.
What he does know is that tonight seems to be much warmer than the past nights he's had.