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The Nail Man case had just been wrapped up, with the priest of the church being the culprit and the worshipper being his copycat. Yuma and Halara had been the ones to solve this case, and although Yakou didn’t appreciate that the two got the Peacekeepers on their tail, he couldn’t help but feel proud of his detectives for solving this complex case.
Eventually, all of the detectives returned to the agency to discuss the conclusion of the case and the events that followed afterward.
“Are you serious? A Peacekeeper executive was taking bribes from the church?” Desuhiko was the one to start the conversation after everyone had sat down in their normal places. Well everyone except Yuma.
Yuma usually sat on the purple checkered sofa across from Fubuki, but right now he sat kneeling on the floor staring at the carpet.
“If Director Yomi said so, it would be considered the truth even if it isn’t.” Halara replied to Desuhiko in their usual manner.
The detectives continued conversing for a while until the submarine’s doorbell rang.
“Do we have a visitor? That’s rare…” Yakou commented before sending Yuma to answer the door.
The visitor turned out to be the boy who had asked Yuma to investigate the nail man case. The boy’s father was framed as the killer, and if Yuma hadn’t figured out who the true culprit was, his father would have been executed by the Peacekeepers.
The boy asks Yuma to play catch, which Yuma hesitantly agrees to do. He heads out to the riverbank with the young boy.
Shortly after Yuma’s departure, the rest of the detectives leave for the hotel.
Now that he’s alone, Yakou lets out a sigh as he lights a cigarette and takes a seat on the purple checkered sofa. He’s exhausted after the events of the day.
What a crazy day. I can’t believe those two would stick their necks out so much with so many Peacekeepers around! What were they thinking?!
With his thoughts on the two detectives who nearly got him arrested earlier, he thinks back to before Yuma had left the agency with that kid.
Now that he thinks about it, Yuma seemed pretty down. Throughout their entire conversation, Yuma had just kept his gaze fixated on the floor and hadn’t said a word.
I don’t know Yuma that well, but that’s not like him. Is he okay? Did something happen while he and Halara were investigating? Maybe I should talk to him when he comes back…
As incompetent as Yakou may be sometimes, he is still a detective. If someone is upset, he can tell.
After some time, Yuma returns to the submarine looking exhausted. With everything that happened today, Yakou can’t blame the kid for being tired.
“Hey Yuma, can you come here for a minute?”
Yuma’s eyes widen upon hearing the chief’s request. He really isn’t in the mood for another lecture, but judging by the tone of Yakou’s voice, this seems a bit more serious than just another lecture.
“What’s going on Chief?” Yuma asks as he approaches the sofa Yakou is sitting on. He decides to take the seat next to him.
Yakou falters for a second. He now realizes he doesn’t exactly know what to say. He’s never really been the best at comforting people.
“Uh… are you okay? I may be wrong but, you seemed pretty down after solving this case. You know if something’s bothering you, you can talk to me about it.”
Yuma is shocked to hear this. He certainly wasn’t expecting his chief to check up on him. He stares at Yakou while trying to form a cohesive answer.
“Yeah… I mean no. I mean I don’t know..? Uhh, this is all so sudden.” Yuma laughs awkwardly in an attempt to hide his embarrassment from stumbling over his words.
Yakou grows more worried upon hearing his answer. What does he mean he doesn’t know? Surely he can tell if he’s not okay.
“Yuma, if something is bothering you please talk to me about it. I’m your chief and it’s my job to make sure my detectives are all well.”
His job huh? So he’s only doing this because he feels obligated to do so…
Yuma’s thoughts immediately enter self-deprecation mode. He can’t help but feel as if he is just a burden on the chief.
All I’ve ever done for him is cause him trouble. Of course, I’m a burden to him. He doesn’t actually care about me.
Tears start welling up in Yuma’s eyes before he can try to will them away. He realizes he doesn’t have it in him to even try and stop them from falling. Instead, he just lets them spill from his eyes and roll down his cheeks.
Yakou is startled by Yuma’s sudden crying. The poor thing must have more going on with him than Yakou originally thought.
“Hey hey don’t cry now, it’s okay Yuma.”
Yakou speaks in a reassuring voice as he wraps his arms around the smaller detective and lifts him up slightly to sit him on his lap.
He doesn’t know what came over him. It’s like some sort of parental instinct took over upon seeing Yuma cry.
Yuma grabs onto Yakou’s shirt and buries his face in his shoulder as his cries become full-on sobs.
Yakou rubs circles around Yuma’s back as he speaks softly to the crying boy in front of him.
“There there Yuma. Let it all out.”
The two stay like that for a few minutes until Yuma eventually calms down a bit. He lifts his head from Yakou’s shoulder to wipe his eyes.
“I-I’m sorry Chief! I don’t know what came over me. I’m so sorry for burdening you with that!”
“Burdening me?”
Hearing Yuma’s (very unnecessary) apology, Yakou starts to piece together what he thinks is going on in Yuma’s head.
“Yuma… Listen to me, kid. You’re not a burden. Not for me and not for anyone else here. Please don’t ever feel as if you are.”
Yuma looks up at his chief with raw eyes. His eyes burn a bit after all that crying but he tries to not pay any attention to that.
“But you said it was your job as chief to make sure I’m okay. You don’t have to check up on me if you don’t want to. I’m fine.”
Yakou immediately recognizes his words from earlier and starts to regret how he phrased them. He lets out a small laugh before continuing the conversation.
“I should’ve phrased that better. I didn’t mean to make you feel as if you were burdening me. Checking up on someone will never be a burden to me. I’m doing it because I want to. I promise.”
Yuma smiles softly at Yakou after hearing that. Although he can’t completely remove the feeling from his mind, he does feel slightly better.
“Thank you, Chief.”
“It’s no problem kid!”
Yakou smiles back at the trainee before remembering what he originally started this conversation for in the first place.
“You never answered my original question though. You down to talk about it?”
Yuma pauses for a second before nodding his head in acceptance.
“I just… wonder if it was the right thing to solve that case.”
Yakou is shocked. Why wouldn’t it be the right thing to do? Solving cases is the whole point of being a detective. But instead of immediately interjecting with his opinions, Yakou chooses to let Yuma continue.
“I mean, maybe those two wouldn’t have died had the case never been solved. Maybe Yomi wouldn’t have killed them…”
Yuma knew for a fact Yomi wasn’t the reason those two died, but he couldn’t exactly tell Yakou they died because Yuma has a pact with a Death God that kills the culprits of the cases they solve. The rest of the agency believes Yomi had something to do with their deaths, so Yuma decides to roll with that.
That was the real reason Yuma felt bad. He knows he killed those two. He’s responsible for the death of three people now. They may have been murderers, but Yuma still saw them as people. They didn’t deserve to die. Not in Yuma’s mind.
Yakou wasn’t expecting Yuma to feel so much remorse over the deaths of the culprits. He doesn’t exactly understand why he feels remorse for them, but the last thing he wants to do is invalidate Yuma’s feelings.
“You’re right. Maybe they wouldn’t have died if the case hadn’t been solved. But think about how many more people would have been killed at the hands of those two had this case not been solved. Did those two deserve death, I’m not entirely sure. But Yomi doesn’t care about anyone besides himself. You can’t feel responsible over the actions of those you can’t control Yuma.”
Yakou didn’t realize just how much those words meant to Yuma. But he was right, if the case hadn’t been solved, there only would’ve been more casualties. Upon realizing this, Yuma finally starts to feel a bit better since exiting the mystery labyrinth.
“Thank you again, Chief. I needed to hear that.”
Yuma wraps his arms around Yakou to hug him, which Yakou immediately returns.
“Again Yuma, it’s no problem. If you ever need to talk to someone, you can always talk to me. I promise.”
The two release from their hug and Yuma lets out a soft yawn, which causes Yakou to chuckle.
“Why don’t you get some rest? It’s been a long day for you I’m sure.”
Yakou gets up from his spot on the sofa to allow Yuma to lie down. He heads for the area where he sleeps, but he turns around once more before leaving the room.
“Good night Yuma.”
“Good night Chief Yakou.”
Yakou turns off the lights before exiting the main area of the agency. It doesn’t take Yuma long to fall asleep. And for the first time since he awoke in that train station lost and found, Yuma finally gets a good night's sleep.