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Akiko barged into the Narumi Detective Office, clearly in a bad mood.
“Why did my hairdresser turn into a ‘Hikari Studio’ and WHEN did that happen?” she shouted, startling Shoutarou into spilling his coffee.
“Aki-chan, did you say ‘Hikari Studio’?” Philip asked, closing his blank book and giving his full attention to Akiko.
“Yeah, I went to get my hair trimmed and instead of my usual place, there was a photo studio! I had to hit some tall guy with a slipper, he wouldn’t stop taking my picture,” Akiko pouted. “I tried to tell him I have a husband , so taking my picture wouldn’t work on me, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Shoutarou, that’s Decade’s place!” Philip said, hand coming to his lips. “We should check it out!”
“Decade…the one who split us into two that one time, somehow?” Shoutarou asked grumpily as he cleaned the coffee off the desk. Thankfully, he hadn’t got any on his clothes.
“If I’m remembering correctly, his name is Koyoda Tsukasa, our direct senpai,” Philip said, ignoring the question and getting up. “Come on Shoutarou, we must go see him before the Studio leaves!”
“What?”
One visit to the Hikari Studio later and Shoutarou’s head was spinning with dimensional nonsense that Philip was of course fascinated with but just gave him a headache. Fortunately, Hikari Eijiro-san had noticed that Shoutarou looked interested in the old fashioned cameras that he used, and found him a Diana camera that he had laying around. Shoutarou had tried to pay for it (and Natsumi hadn’t needed to threaten him with her thumb either) but Eijiro-san had insisted he take it, saying that if he was a hero like the “four of them that call this place home”, he could just have it. He seemed certain that film would be findable, so Shoutarou accepted the camera, appreciating the look of the camera, as it fit perfectly into his aesthetic of a hard-boiled detective.
“We’re back,” Philip called as they got back to the Narumi Detective Office, Shoutarou looking forward to trying out the camera.
“Welcome back, why was my hairdresser gone?” Akiko asked, sitting in one of the red chairs.
“Oh, Aki-chan, it’s fascinating, apparently the Hikari Studio can travel through the different worlds, and one of their heroes is from an entirely different world than most of us, he’s a Kuuga…” Shoutarou tuned out as Philip explained how Decade worked, going to his desk and putting his things down.
“So basically my hairdresser should be back soon?” Akiko interrupted.
“Are you going to get a hairstyle that makes you look less like a middle schooler?” Shoutarou asked. “Ouch!”
Akiko waved her slipper at him. “I just need a trim, Ryuu-kun likes my hair.”
“Yeah, well…”
“Do you want to finish that sentence, Shoutarou-kun? ”
Shoutarou decided to keep his mouth shut, instead taking out the camera. After inspecting it, he discovered that there were little handles that meant it could take a strap. He made a mental note to drop by the Windscale store for one, vaguely remembering they had something of the sort from the last time he shopped there.
“What’s that?” Akiko asked.
“Shoutarou took interest in the cameras the Studio had,” Philip explained, coming over to the desk and sitting on it. “Eijiro-san gave it to him.”
“Hmmm…don’t expect me to pay for your film,” Akiko sniffed.
“I don’t expect you to pay us at all. Ouch!”
“Cameras really are so interesting, aren’t they…I should look them up,” Philip announced, heading to the garage.
Akiko watched him leave, and shrugged. “I was going to tell him that there’s several new pet cases, but you can just do them on your own.”
“Seriously?”
“Don’t make me hit you again, go earn us some money!”
“I’m going, I’m going!”
“With the help of sardines and my cunning technique, I was able to rescue Tama,” Shoutarou muttered as he typed up his latest report. “There, finished!”
He got no response, as Akiko had left and Philip was still in the garage. Shoutarou got up and stretched, eyes falling on the camera.
“Let’s take you on a test run, shall we?”
He wandered the office, looking for something to take pictures of, but nothing struck him as photo-worthy. His stomach growled, reminding him that it was time to eat. And if he hadn’t eaten, Philip definitely hadn’t.
“Hey, partner, let’s go get some Fuu-men,” Shoutarou said as he entered the garage, camera still in his hand.
Philip didn’t hear him at first, of course, too engrossed in writing. Shoutarou leaned against the door frame, content to watch for a little bit. And seeing Philip like this, madly curious about something like he was supposed to be…it gave Shoutarou a feeling of peace. The world wasn’t ending at this moment, and he could just enjoy this time with his partner.
Philip turned around, face lighting up when he saw Shoutarou.
“Shoutarou, did you know that film has been around since…” Shoutarou’s eyes softened as Philip chattered on, pointing out things on the whiteboards like Shoutarou could understand the various languages.
“Your camera, on the other hand, is known for having several problems,” Philip said, plucking the camera out of Shoutarou’s hands. “But the pictures still win awards,” he said thoughtfully as he inspected it. “Art being subjective and all that.”
Shoutarou took it back, taking a picture of Philip before he could overthink it. And several more as Philip made more notes directly on the walls.
“Oi, Philip, we have to eat,” Shoutarou reminded him, gently steering Philip out of the garage.
“We should take pictures as we go to the cart,” Philip said agreeably. “To see how much your particular camera is affected by the light streaks. Of course, we won’t know how the pictures come out until they’re developed. We’ll have to make a dark room.”
“A dark room…we should have room in the garage.”
“I’ll have to look up how to make the best one, remind me when we get back.”
“Yeah, I will.”
“Shoutarou, Philip, do you need more information on something?” Watcherman asked, having appeared out of nowhere.
“Shoutarou needs a dark room,” Philip said, gesturing to Shoutarou’s camera.
“Ah, I see! I’ll see if I know anyone,” Watcherman said as he fell into step.
Once the three of them got their Fuu-men, Queen and Elizabeth came.
“Shou-chan, this is the most you thing I can think of,” Queen announced as Shoutarou took a picture of Philip eating his food. “Only you would want an old camera when you could have a digital one.”
“Shou-chan is a technophobe,” Elizabeth said, dragging Queen to her and posing for the camera.
“I am not !”
“You write your reports in Romaji because you want to use a typewriter instead of a computer, if that isn’t technophobe behavior I don’t know what is,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“Just because I appreciate older technology doesn’t make me a technophobe!”
“It kinda does,” Queen said with a shrug. “But I bet all your pictures are going to be of Philip.”
Shoutarou tried to hide his blush by taking a too-big bite of food and choking.
“How’s the dark room, partner?” Philip asked, Shoutarou having just come out.
“Seems to work just fine, want to see the pictures?”
Philip nodded, so Shoutarou handed them over. Philip smiled as he looked through them, Shoutarou able to see it even if Philip’s hand was on his lips like always.
“Half-boiled, Shoutarou,” Philip said after going through them, though his voice was fond.
“What?”
“These are almost exclusively pictures of me.”
Shoutarou tried to hide behind his hat, still easily embarrassed when dealing with his love for his partner. Philip laughed, taking the hat out of Shoutarou’s hands and kissing him.
“I love them, partner,” he whispered mischievously. He put the hat back on Shoutarou and gave Shoutarou the pictures back. “If you don’t want them hung up around the office, I’d suggest putting them away before Aki-chan finds them. I’m going to go look up gum now, Queen gave me some yesterday.” Philip gave Shoutarou another kiss before climbing the stairs that would bring him up to the metal landing.
“Hung up around the office, huh…that wouldn’t look professional. Or hard-boiled.” Shoutarou glanced at the pictures in his hands. The top one was a selfie, taken by Philip as he kissed Shoutarou on the cheek. Even with the light streaks, Shoutarou was clearly red, but it was a cute picture.
“But one framed on the desk would be nice.”
