Chapter Text
A soft breeze causes the hyacinths to move around in the vase at the tombstone.
They look quite beautiful and colorful when they're still this fresh.
Tachihara loves hyacinths.
Just like he loves his brother who rests in this very grave.
It has been 14 years and Tachihara still has no answers.
Part of the reason he became a detective was to figure out who's responsible for his brother's death.
Yet he still doesn't know a thing.
Tachihara's coat lightly blows in the wind as he sits on the ground somberly.
He stares down at the only clue he has.
His brother's dog tag.
The word 'correct' is written over and over as if his brother had descended into madness.
He feels overcome with emotion,
with great sadness whenever he looks at it.
He wonders what his brother was thinking writing all of this down.
He wonders what it means.
Will he ever find out?
Possibly.
Or not.
The sound of his phone was almost inaudible because of the volume of the birds chirping at this early hour of the morning.
Yet what wasn't inaudible was Chuuya's voice on the other end of the call:
"I told you shitty cop to never call me before 10am!"
As upset as he may have been,
Chuuya's over the top nature always manages to make Tachihara chuckle a tiny bit and mock him about it:
"I can't believe the best detective agency in town has such crappy working hours and such rude responses to calls."
Truthfully, the rundown private investigation agency in the most shady part of town has somehow transformed itself into the most successful business in the area.
Tachihara likes to believe that it's because they've finally understood that they're not meant to work against the police but, in fact, with the police.
The building itself looks a lot better as well now that they appear to have the funds to keep the exterior on par with the interior.
However, it's still at a quite shady place and Tachihara still worries about their customers everyday.
Yet Tachihara must admit that he's rather proud of and happy for the two private detectives.
They've teamed up for a couple cases by now which have all been solved successfully by them.
And Tachihara likes to believe that they're getting along better by now.
Although, they're still arguing quite a bit and Tachihara is pretty sure that if Akutagawa was to meet him all by himself,
Tachihara would definitely have to pay for all the times he has made fun of Akutagawa for looking like an emo Sherlock Holmes.
But all of that doesn't matter now.
Therefore Tachihara decides to snap out of his train of thought and finally interrupt Chuuya who has gone on a rant about how Tachihara has no clue what he's talking about and that their agency can answer their calls however the fuck they want:
"I have a new case."
Chuuya finally falls silent,
attempting to calm himself down and assume a serious and professional demeanor before he finally responds:
"Great.
What is it about?"
"My brother's murder."
There was a long silence.
Of course there was.
Tachihara would be stunned too, if he was in Chuuya's position.
Yet he was amazed about how this single sentence caused Chuuya to drop his entire hot-headed, no bullshit demeanor for once.
His voice sounded so different,
much softer.
As if he feared his question would upset the other:
"Tachihara, are you--"
"I'm quite alright."
Tachihara interrupted Chuuya before this would turn overly emotional.
Not this early on in the case.
He'll try to pull himself together for as long as he can.
Tachihara doubts that he'll be able to suppress his emotions throughout the entire case.
But he needs to try to remain nonchalant.
Otherwise he might never solve this case.
"Don't worry,
I'll obviously pay."
Tachihara tries to distract from the matter at hand.
He doesn't want to upset Chuuya with his own emotions.
He actually didn't think that Chuuya could ever be sad.
Yet his voice sounded so… hurt, almost.
Although, it should be Tachihara who's hurting.
Quite ironic, isn't it?
"I didn't even know you have a brother."
Chuuya states over the phone.
His voice is still odd.
He sounds so calm.
He's rarely ever calm.
Tachihara maybe would've made fun of him, if he didn't feel like shit right now.
Therefore he concentrated on the case instead:
"But I do have a brother.
...Did have one.
He died a long time ago.
I always knew he was murdered.
I just don't know by whomst."
There was another pause where Tachihara could barely hear Chuuya take a deep breath to ground himself and return to his usual behavior.
He sounded much more confident again as he responded:
"Fuck.
I-
Alright.
What evidence you got?"
Tachihara couldn't help but smile a bit as Chuuya finally gets to the point.
Good.
He wouldn't want to get into some feelsy talk with Chuuya.
He didn't even think that Chuuya is able to understand any emotion besides anger, but apparently Tachihara was wrong.
One always learns something new.
And Tachihara hopes to finally learn about what happened to his brother.
"His old dog tag with something scratched on the back, his last location and a bunch of sketchy and weird documents around the entire ordeal."
"Alright, sounds good.
I think.
Why don't you come over and we'll take a look at all of that stuff?"
Tachihara thought it was funny how unsure Chuuya sounded about something he does everyday - observe evidence.
But he supposed such things just feel different when they're about… people you know.
Tachihara doesn't quite know what they are.
Are they friends?
They still bicker a lot.
But he likes to think that it's in a joking and friendly manner.
They've never actually labeled themselves and he doesn't want to assume what they are without knowing Chuuya's opinion on the matter.
Therefore he dropped the thought and simply responded:
"I'll be there soon."