Archive of Our Own

Heizou stood in front of the clue board. He looked around and saw several children scattered throughout the police station, all following a doushin or someone similar. He recalled seeing a flyer about a 'Bring Your Kid To Work' day. It had been all the buzz for the past couple of days.

Since the work of a doushin was usually boring and dangerous, there were a few more rules than most 'bring your kid to work' days, such as: kids had to stay in the station, or: they couldn't follow a doushin on patrol. Things like that.

There weren't a lot of kids here because of this. They were probably scared off. Ammandou brought his son, Uesugi brought his son and Owada brought two little kids as well. Heizou assumed he was old enough to have adult children, but these two were probably 9 and 7.

Not that it mattered to Heizou. Most of the kids were staying close to their parents, so there weren't any near him. He zoned out, thinking about his current case.

A young woman had been raped. The guy had already been caught, but she wanted to know how he got into her house.

There was also an older gentleman who was robbed of his whole life savings. He needed to find out who did it and where they went so he could get it back.

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of it. He turned and looked at who it was. It was Yoriki Owada, followed by the two children he brought.

"Hey, Owada," Heizou said.

"Hey, Shikanoin. I have a bit of a big ask.” Owada said.

“Alright. What is it?”

“My grandson has been wanting to be a detective for a while now, and he was wanting to shadow an actual detective. I did tell him that there are many Doushin capable of detective work, but he wanted to shadow you, so I was wondering if you would be willing to let him?" Owada said. Heizou was silent for a moment, mulling it over.

"Sure." Heizou agreed. Relief flooded Owada's face; it was obvious the boy had been pestering him all day. Speaking of whom, he was practically jumping for joy.

"Great, thank you. He'll stay with you then. Don't be afraid to send him back if he's being annoying or a twerp."

"I'm annoying too, I'm sure we'll be fine." Heizou said. Owada gave him a tired look and sighed.

"If you need to leave the station then send him back. Or if there's anything confidential."

"Don't worry Owada. I read the flyer." Heizou laughed. "You don't need to worry so much, I won't do anything dumb."

"Alright. Thank you again." Owada said, relief flooding his face. Heizou nodded with a smile. Owada smiled back before turning and walking away. The girl followed him, but the seven year old stayed beside Heizou.

"You're the Cyclone, aren't you?" The boy asked with unbridled enthusiasm.

"Mhm. And what's your name?” Heizou asked, turning to him.

"That's so cool! I get to watch the Cyclone at work! What's it like to have criminals fear your name?" The boy said, accidentally ignoring Heizou's question.

"It definitely makes things easier. Some give up as soon as they see me coming. I was actually just working on a case where that happened."

"Really? What was it about? Wait, let me guess. Um... oh! Someone was robbed! And... the thief ran and hid in a cave! But then he saw you and he turned himself in! Forfeiting all his stolen goodies."

"Not a bad guess, that sounds entirely plausible."

"Plausible...?"

"Possible."

"Oh!"

"That's actually pretty much what happened. It was indeed a robbery, but it's okay. He's in jail and can't rob people of their livelihoods anymore. That's the goal of us detectives: we make sure those who hurt others don't get the chance again."

"Right!"

“What's your name?” Heizou asked again.

“Oh right! Sorry. My name's Hiroko, I'm Owada's grandson.”

"A pleasure to meet you, my name's Shikanoin Heizou.” Heizou said, a little unsure of how to talk to children. “Would you like to help me with some cases?"

"Yeah! Let's find those evildoers and make sure they don't hurt anybody!" Hiroko said, pumping a fist in the air. Heizou smiled and turned back to the clueboard. He pulled the rape case down and stuck it in his pocket. The boy didn't need to see that, and Heizou didn't really want to explain what rape was to a seven year old.

"Let's see, I haven't worked on this one yet. How would you like to help me with it?"

"Yeah! What's this one about?"

"A thievery case."

"Like the one you just told me about?"

"Yeah, it's pretty similar. An older man was robbed and we need to figure out who." Heizou paused. This was gonna be tricky, keeping a citizen's identity anonymous while working with someone else. "The house was pretty old and not in the best of conditions. Breaking in was easy for the perpetrator.”

"Perpetrator?"

"That's what we call the person who committed the crime, regardless of if we know the person's identity or not. Here, take a look at the photo, tell me what you see." Heizou said, holding it out. Hiroko took it and looked at it.

"...It's a hole in a wall."

"Yes, it's how our perpetrator got into the house. Look closely, how did he make the hole in the wall?" Heizou asked. Hiroko peered at the photo again, his face scrunched up in a mixture of concentration and uncertainty.

"Did they use a tool of some kind or their body?" Heizou prompted after a moment passed.

"Um, a tool!"

"Good. Look at the impact marks around the hole. What kind of tool would make those marks."

"...Um... I don't know..."

"Well, it looks to me that it was something sharp and long. Sharp objects that come to mind are many: a knife, an axe, a whip or a sword for example. It's difficult to tell which one; But adding the other detail of the sharp object being long lets us rule out most of these possibilities."

"Like the axe!"

"You're pretty smart. Yeah, the axe is ruled out. Same with the knife. A whip and a sword are now the only possibilities,” Heizou said. His intuition told him it was the sword. He shelved it away for now.

"So how do we determine which one it was?"

"Well it's pretty obvious the method used, several lacerations were made on a weak point of the wall before the perpetrator slammed their body against it. With the structural integrity already not the best-"

"What does structural integrity mean?"

"A house is classified as a structure, and if integrity isn't strong, it's weak. If we combine these two words it's talking about how strong the house is."

"Classified?"

"Oh, uh, classification is used for big groups of related things, where things are similar but not the exact same. Houses are a type of construction and are classified as such."

"...what?"

"Let's just move on for now. To put it simply, structural integrity is how strong the wall is, and the wall of this house was not strong. Since it was weak, it was easy to break. Attacks from both whips and swords combined with a bodyslam would be capable of creating a hole like this. So if we can't determine which it was from looking at the picture, then we should look at it from another angle."

"Like what?"

"Well, what angle do you think would answer our question?"

"Um..."

"If you were trying to determine which store two different candies came from, what would you do?"

"Well, I know where candies are from."

"Why do you know that?"

"Because they always come from the Tsukomomono."

"Multiple stores sell candy, not just Tsukonomomo's. How do you know which candy is from which store?"

"If I was there when my dad bought it?"

"Well, yes, but what if you weren't there? And what if he didn't tell you?"

"Umm... I don't know."

"Each store makes their candies differently. If you know how a store's candy looks, then all you need to do is look at it and you can tell. So let's apply this logic to our current dilemma."

"But we don't have the tool."

"Right, but we can see the marks it left."

"So... we go around testing every whip and sword we can find?"

"You're on the right track, but that won't be necessary. All whips make similar marks, no matter the design. Same with swords. We have some here at the police station where we can swing at some test dummies and see what mark they leave, and using that, we can determine the weapon."

"Really?! Can I swing the sword? I've always wanted to."

"Sure, but only if you have the supervision of a doushin. Luckily I am one, so let's go find them."

"Alright, let's go!" Hiroko shouted, turning around and running a few steps before turning back to Heizou, a sheepish smile on his face. Heizou smiled and walked towards the door of the police station and went inside, Hiroko following eagerly. As Heizou walked down the hallways, Hiroko kept running ahead before running back to Heizou. The first few times, Heizou ran after him to make sure he didn't run off, but eventually he stopped doing that. He only kept walking, knowing Hiroko would come back. It was painfully obvious that Hiroko was excited to swing a sword, even though he tried to hide it.

The other doushin they passed would watch them and hide their laughter. It was funny to see the hyper-active Heizou shepherd a hyper-active young boy.

They kept walking and eventually came to a stop before a locked door. Heizou pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, holding it open for Hiroko. He walked in, practically hopping up and down as he eyed the swords on the far wall.

"They're pretty cool, aren't they?" Heizou said as Hiroko nodded eagerly. "Just remember to be careful. They're very sharp and we don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Do you know how to use a sword, Mr. Cyclone?"

"Can't say I do. I can maybe figure a thing or two out if the need arises, but a true detective should never have to touch their weapons, instead using their mind to outsmart the criminal. That only works when you aren't in a fight; you can't exactly smack someone over the head with your mind, but you can avoid getting into fights in the first place."

"So, we don't need to do this?"

"Well, this is different. I said a detective shouldn't need to touch their weapon, but I meant they shouldn't have to fight. And this isn't fighting, this is investigating."

"Oh, alright." Hiroko said, once again eyeing the swords. Heizou walked over to them, Hiroko following behind him.

"Now I've heard you should use a sword like it's an extension of your arm. Make sure you keep the blade within your eyesight at all times and control your movements. I've seen wild movements lead to accidents and I doubt your grandfather would be too happy if I returned you with one arm less." Heizou said. Hiroko giggled.

Heizou lifted one of the swords off the wall and unsheathed it. "Remember, never touch the blade, only the hilt." Hiroko nodded and looked at it, bouncing up and down on his heels. Heizou handed the sword over to Hiroko. Hiroko gripped the hilt with both hands, not taking his eyes off the blade. "The training dummies are right over here." Heizou said as he crossed the room towards them.

Hiroko followed him, keeping his eyes on the blade. Because of this, he wasn't watching where he was going, but that was alright because Heizou was. They crossed the room and stood in front of the dummies. Heizou put a hand on Hiroko's shoulder to stop him.

"Go ahead and take a swing at the training dummies." Heizou said, stepping to the side. Hiroko smiled and looked at the dummies, raising the sword up nervously.

"But what if I accidentally hurt someone?" He said, the smile dropping from his face.

"There's nobody else around to hurt. But don't worry, I'm supervising and I'll make sure no one gets hurt." Heizou said. With this assurance, Hiroko stepped forward and weakly hit the sword against the dummy. It didn't leave a mark. Hiroko brought the sword back up and swung again, putting a little more force into it. It left a light mark and Hiroko looked at Heizou.

"That's all we need, thank you Hiroko. Let's go sheath the sword and find the whip. Do you want to swing that one too?" Heizou asked, walking back over to the sword rack. Hiroko shook his head and followed, slightly shaking. He held the sword up to Heizou and it slipped from his fingers. He tried to catch it but Heizou moved quick as a flash and grabbed his arm to stop him. The sword clattered harmlessly to the floor.

"If a sharp object falls, don't try to catch it. It could cut you if you catch it wrong."

"Oh. But won't it hurt the floor?"

"The floor isn't alive. It's not as big a deal if it gets damaged as it can be fixed. It's a lot harder to fix a mangled hand." Heizou said. Hiroko cringed as he imagined it and nodded. Heizou picked up the sword and put it back in his sheath.

"Alright, if you wanna sit on a crate over there I'll mark a dummy using a whip, and then we can compare the marks."

"Alright," Hiroko said as he walked over to where Heizou pointed and sat down. Heizou turned and opened a different crate, pulling out a whip and turning towards the training dummies. He paused for a moment, figuring out in his mind how to use the whip effectively enough to leave a mark and not damage anything else.

After a moment he swung the whip and left a small gash on the training dummy. He looked at it before he coiled the whip and put it back in the crate, motioning Hiroko over.

"So while neither of these marks are as deep as the ones on the wall, we can still see the pattern of the mark it left. Do you still have the picture?"

"Yeah, it's right here!" Hiroko said, pulling the picture from his shirt. Heizou nodded and looked at it. His intuition told him it was the sword again and he could see it was the sword with his own eyes.

Hiroko looked at the marks, then the picture, then back at the marks, walking closer to inspect them.

"It's... it's the sword. Right?"

"Yeah, that's the conclusion I came to as well." Heizou said.

"So that means we've solved it!" Hiroko excitedly said.

"Not quite. We've figured out how they did it, but not why or who. We need to figure out who to convict, but usually you need to figure out the means- how did they commit the crime. We also need to find the motive- why they did what they did. Figuring out one will help us figure out the other two."

"Oh. So we aren't done." Hiroko said dejectedly. Heizou nodded.

"We've already figured out an important clue. It was a sword that made these marks, and while it's possible that our perpetrator made the sword himself, he most likely bought it. I can run the picture to the smithy and ask if he knows what sword might have made these marks."

"Okay. Does that mean we could have just run the picture to the smithy in the first place?"

"It was easier for us to figure out the type of tool, because now I only need to go to the smithy and not every store that sells sharp objects."

"Oh, alright."

"But as your grandfather said, you can only shadow me in the police station. You'll need to stay with him while I go to the smithy."

"Aww, but I wanna see an interrogation." He pouted.

"I'll be sure to tell you everything afterwards, alright?"

"But I wanna come! Pleease? Pleease can I come? I can talk to my grandpa, I can convince him to let me come."

"It's not his word that doesn't let you leave the station with me or any other doushin. It's for safety. Not everything a doushin does is safe."

"But it's to the smithy! It's still in town! Pleeeeease? Please oh please oh please oh-"

"Alright alright, that's enough. Rules are rules. You can't come."

"But I've heard grandpa say you don't follow the rules"

"That's different. I have no problem putting myself in danger but I'm not a big fan of putting others in danger, especially a kid."

"But I'm strong! I can take care of myself!"

"Not against adults who have been training in combat longer than you've been alive."

"That's not fair!"

"Fair or not, that doesn't change the fact that you can't come. Now come on, let's find your grandpa."

"But-"

"No 'buts', come on."

"I don't wanna!" Hiroko cried. "I wanna go with you!" He yelled as he grabbed onto Heizou's legs. Heizou sighed with exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Kid, listen-"

"No!" He screamed. Heizou sighed again before reaching down and prying him off and setting him down on the floor. Hiroko stayed on the floor, screaming and crying. Heizou could see a few other doushin peer through the door.

"Everything's fine, he's just upset,” He said before picking up Hiroko. Hiroko wrapped his arms and legs around Heizou's torso and clung onto him. Heizou simply walked out of the room, taking care to lock the door behind him.

As he walked through the halls with a screaming 7 year old clinging to him, he noticed a few other doushin look at him. He could feel his embarrassment rising but he forced it down and smiled, assuring them that everything was fine.

He stepped outside and looked around for Owada. He didn't have to look far as Owada hurried over once he heard Hiroko cry.

"He's fine," Heizou assured quickly, "He's just upset that he has to stay here. We found a lead that I need to go out of the police station to investigate and he wanted to come with me."

"Oh, I see. Hiroko, you have to stay here with me." Owada said.

"No!" Hiroko screamed.

"Your mom and dad wouldn't be happy if I let you out of the safety of the police station," Owada tried to reason.

"I know that's a lie! They said they were okay with me going if I was with a doushin."

"They didn't mean going anywhere in Inazuma! Just that you could come to the station today. Besides, there are rules that we have to follow."

"But you said Mr. Cyclone doesn't follow the rules!"

"And I don't try to drag others into it." Heizou interjected.

"If we don't follow the rules there may not be another day like this." Owada's granddaughter reasoned.

"But I wanna go with!" Hiroko screamed. Heizou winced before sharing a look with Owada. Owada stepped forward and began to try and pry Hiroko off Heizou. Heizou tried to help but he couldn't and left it to Owada.

Working together they managed to free Heizou. Hiroko stood on the ground next to his sister, sniffling in defeat.

"Thanks, Owada. I'll be off now." Heizou said as he walked to the gate and left the police station.

He walked down the street, the pink leaves falling from the trees and gently cascading down. Heizou could hear the hustle and bustle of the city all around him. Delicious scents wafted through the air and Heizou considered pausing to get something to eat. That's when he felt someone watching him. He sighed.

"Hiroko, I thought we made it clear you were supposed to stay at the station," he said as he turned around, but he only saw an empty street. He couldn't hear anything either, but his intuition told him someone was watching him. He looked around but couldn't see anyone so he turned back and continued on his way, making sure to keep his guard up.

He reached the smithy and it wasn't long before the boss spotted him and came out to greet him.

"Doushin Shikanoin, a pleasure. Is there something I can help you with?

"Boss Amenoma, good to see you. Yes there is something. Do you know what kind of sword would make these marks?" Heizou said, showing him the picture.

"Hmm. Oh yes, in fact I believe I have this type of sword in stock. We at Amenoma smithy are the only ones who make this type of sword."

"Wonderful. Do you know who you've sold these swords to?"

"Hmm. I do believe we have a list somewhere in storage. I'll go get it for you. Please wait a moment."

"Thank you," Heizou said. As the boss walked off the feeling of being watched crept back in and his intuition started screaming at him. He looked around as subtly as he could but nothing was amiss. Heizou was getting annoyed. Where was he supposed to look?

Soon the boss was back with the transaction receipts. Heizou looked it over and a name stuck out to him. 'Konshou Kusube'.

"Hmm, I see. Thank you boss."

"Of course. Will you be taking it with you?"

"No need, I've memorized what I need," he said.

"Alright then."

"I'll be off now, thank you again," Heizou said as he turned and walked away. He should probably come up with an alias for the suspect, so Hiroko to find it. Although this was the easiest case Heizou had solved in a while. He wondered why it was so easy.

He spotted Owada off in the distance, looking around the streets frantically. Heizou sighed. he didn't even need his intuition to tell him what Owada was looking for. He looked to his side and spotted a small boy creeping along the road, trying to stay hidden in the shadow of the nearby buildings.

Heizou walked up to him and grabbed his wrist, pulling him into the sunlight.

“Hiroko, I thought I told you to stay at the police station.” Heizou said, looking down at the boy with disappointment, although he was more disappointed in the fact that Hiroko was so crumily hidden.

Hiroko didn't say anything, he only looked down, ears turning red. Finally he muttered, “...Don't tell grandpa.”

“No can do, he's out looking for you. If you do something dumb you have to own up to it and accept the consequences. Now come on, let's get you back or Owada will grow more grey hairs.” Heizou said, pulling Hiroko onto the street and towards the police station.

Owada saw them coming and ran over.

“Hiroko, don't go running off like that! We told you to stay put, so you should have stayed put.”

“But-” Hiroko started before hanging his head in defeat, staring at the ground. “Yes grandpa. I'm sorry.”

“Let's get you back to the police station. Maybe you can be like your sister and do as you're told.” Owada said, grabbing his other wrist as Heizou let go. Owada pulled the boy back to the station.

As they walked back in, Hiroko perked back up and turned to Heizou.

“So what did you find?” he asked. Owada let go and returned to his post, and soon enough his granddaughter, who had been standing beside Uesugi, was back at Owada's side.

"The smithy recognized the blade design as one he made and showed me a list of all the people who bought that type of sword. My intuition told me who on the list it was. So we've got the ‘who’ and the ‘how’, now all we need is the ‘why’." Heizou said.

"Woah, that's amazing. Your intuition told you that?" Hiroko asked, eyes wide in amazement. Heizou nodded.

"Normally we would have to cross check Amenoma's list with every martial arts school in Inazuma, and there's no telling if the swords changed hands. But thankfully I'm the detective on this case, so we can skip that step."

"So if we know who it is, why don't we confront him already and beat the answer out of him?"

"Remember what I told you about detectives and weapons?"

"Oh, right. ‘A true detective shouldn't have to touch their weapons, they should use their minds to outsmart the criminal.’" Hiroko said. Heizou nodded.

"There are times when that's unfortunately not the case and you should always be prepared to defend yourself, but just as a general rule of thumb,"

"So we set a trap for him?"

"We're still missing parts of the puzzle. Setting a trap will be difficult if we don't know why he did this. We need a confession from him, and to do so we'll lay trap for him later. In case confrontation doesn't work."

"Oh! I've heard stories about this! He can tell us his motive through the confrontation,"

"That's what I'm planning. Criminals love to talk about their plans, and it's not hard to get them started. However you should always assume that your opponent is stronger than you, and the only way to win is to be smarter. Until proven otherwise anyway. But let's table that idea for now and focus on figuring out why. Let's see if our victim knows something that can help us. However, the victim wishes to remain anonymous, so I'm afraid you can't come this time either."

"What?! But-"

"No buts."

"But, I'm helping you on this case," he said in a small voice.

"I know you are, but no means no. I'll tell you about it afterwards, alright?"

"Aww, but I wanna come. But if you insist Mr. Cyclone then I'll stay behind all alone." He said, obviously trying to guilt trip Heizou. Heizou didn't fall for it as he glanced up at Owada, standing not too far away.

"I do insist.” He said, looking back down at Hiroko. “Just stay with your grandfather for a bit." Heizou said as he jogged off, back out of the police station before Hiroko could respond.

He walked out of the city on the path to the victims house, which was only a little distance from Konda Village. It was a nice day out, the sun was shining and a gentle breeze was blowing, but his intuition told him that something was wrong, like a storm cloud on the horizon. The grass brushed against his legs and off in the distance a flock of birds took off from a tree, the sudden and urgent flapping of wings distracting Heizou. He looked over before he felt a gaze on him again. His intuition warned him of the danger he was in and he stopped, standing still and listening intently.

At first he couldn't hear anything. But then he heard someone shouting.

"Hey, get back here!"

It didn't sound particularly threatening, more like a parent calling after a runaway child.

Heizou ignored it. Before long he heard the sound of fast and heavy footsteps and he turned, only to find Hiroko sprinting towards him. Off in the distance he could see Owada looking around before spotting Hiroko and running towards him with more speed than he's seen Owada run with in a long time.

Heizou sighed as Hiroko slowed to a stop in front of him and looked up, completely out of breath but with a beaming smile.

"See? I can take care of myself. I can run super fast." Hiroko panted.

"Kid, there's something dangerous around here.” Heizou said, ignoring what Hiroko had said. “You stay with me. I'll walk you back to your grandfather. And this time you are staying with him, no more funny business." He said crossly. Hiroko shrunk in on himself. He didn't say anything, he just nodded.

Heizou sighed again and turned towards Owada, who was still sprinting towards them. Heizou started jogging towards him, glancing back every now and then to make sure Hiroko was keeping up with him. He needed to get him out of there.

His intuition was getting louder and he could feel his breath coming faster and faster. He stopped and picked up Hiroko before turning and running.

Suddenly a purple dome came down from the sky, trapping Heizou and Hiroko. The dome spanned in a circle that created a small clearing.

Heizou stopped, skidding to a halt right in front of the wall. Hiroko grabbed on tightly as Heizou stopped suddenly, keeping himself from falling.

Owada reached them a moment later. He was about to touch the strange wall before he stopped. Heizou and Owada heard the crackle of electricity and realised at the same time that it was electric. Heizou backed away, holding onto Hiroko tightly.

"I'll find a way to get you two out of there! There's an electrograna here somewhere." Owada said, looking around. At that moment Heizou heard the sound of a blade being drawn and looked to the side. His eyes widened and he threw Hiroko away from him. He landed in a heap on the ground before scrambling to his feet. Heizou attempted to jump out of the way himself, but before he could a sword sliced through his shoulder. He felt the cold metal tear through the flesh and bone, sliding through his skin. Agony seared through his arm and he screamed out. His knees buckled and he hit the ground with a thud.

“Shikanoin!/ Mr. Cyclone!” He heard Owada and Hiroko shout for him. He couldn't force himself to move. His shoulder was in excruciating pain. He felt warm blood run over his shoulder and slide its way between his arm and his armour. He opened his eyes and watched a tall bulky man look over at Owada.

He pointed his sword covered in blood at Owada. "You. You took away my life." He said with a growl. He turned to Hiroko. "So now I will take yours," He said as he pointed his sword at Hiroko, still addressing Owada. Hiroko's eyes widened and he stumbled back before falling over. He stared up at the man with terror in his eyes. Heizou tried standing up as the man approached Hirokawa, but his limbs refused to cooperate with him and he collapsed back onto the ground. His head felt fuzzy. He could hear Owada yelling for him to get up.

Heizou watched as the man swung his blade down with practiced ease. Time seemed to slow as Heizou activated his vision and the wind responded to his call, blowing harshly and pushing the sword to the side. It barely missed Hiroko, striking the ground beside him. The man froze for a moment before turning to him as Heizou slowly got up, blood running down his limp arm.

"Fine. There's some for everyone. I'll take your life too, vision-bearer" he said as he stalked up to Heizou, sword in hand. Heizou dropped into a fighting stance, never breaking eye contact. The man charged and Heizou jumped into the air, using the wind to push himself well over the man's head. He landed behind him, standing in between the terrified Hiroko and the man before turning to address him.

"So I assume that it was you who was watching me?"

"Didn't see me, huh? Nobody looks up."

"You know your tricks won't help you against me."

"Oh I think they will."

Heizou glanced behind the man, watching as Owada turned and ran back the way he came. Heizou guessed he was going to the station to get back up.

His attention returned to the man standing in front of him. "If you're talking about the archer in the tree then you've failed."

Just as Heizou said that a thunk sounded from the shield. Both Heizou and the man looked over in time to see an arrow falling a small distance, just outside the shield. In the distance sat a man with a bow. He looked stunned for a moment before he got up and walked away. Heizou turned back to the man and gave him a very unimpressed look. The man looked angry.

"Who are you, thinking that just because he failed means you stand any chance?"

"This is The Cyclone! He's gonna kick your sorry butt!" Hiroko yelled. He stood up and walked up beside Heizou. Heizou couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face. Hiroko did his best to look not afraid when he was obviously not.

"The Cyclone? You expect me to know your little celebrities?" He laughed, "They're all show, no skill."

"That's not true! I've been working alongside him all morning and he's super good, like he's already got all the answers!"

"'Working alongside'? What, is the Tenryou Commission getting so desperate they're hiring small children?" The man taunted.

"No, they're not desperate! Not with Mr. Cyclone there! I was just there visiting. Mr. Cyclone was letting me help on a case. He let me use a sword." Hiroko said.

Just then Heizou noticed Owada had returned and was hiding in some foliage. He gave Heizou a disappointed look. Heizou didn't react but he knew they were going to talk about it later. He should have told Hiroko to keep quiet about that. Heizou glanced around and noticed a few other doushin surrounding the purple dome.

"Oh, a sword? Did he teach you how to use one? How to defend against one? How to dodge one?" The man said as he dashed forward. Heizou just barely managed to pull Hiroko out of the way without getting stabbed himself.

Heizou let go of Hiroko. As the man charged again Heizou used his vision to blow him off course, and he landed in the grass.

"Konshou Kusube, disciple of the Yiminini dojo. Oh how you've disgraced your master."

“You'll be disgraced when you're run through with a sword!" Konshou shouted as he scrambled to his feet and charged again. Heizou smirked before grabbing Hiroko and jumping to the side. Heizou knew he would surely spot the other doushin if he didn't do something.

"Tell me, how does it feel to be so bad at being bad? I mean, you ended up in jail all those years ago, what's stopping it from happening again?" Heizou taunted. Konshou snapped his head towards Heizou and audibly growled. Heizou's smirk only grew. Heizou once again leapt out of the way as Konshou charged again.

“The difference is years of training, sitting under waterfalls, morning runs when there was still dew on the grass, drinking boiling water.”

“Is that why you sound like that?”

The forcefield suddenly fell, and the doushin hiding around the perimeter charged forward with a cry, startling Konshou. Heizou took his moment of distraction and sped forward, knocking the sword from his hand. He leapt back just as fast, standing in front of Hiroko again. Hiroko peered out from behind Heizou, watching as the doushin approached Konshou.

He scrambled for his sword but wasn't fast enough. The tip of Owada's spear was thrust into the ground between Konshou and his sword. He backed away from Owada only to run into the tip of Uesugi's spear behind him. He looked around before slumping his shoulders in defeat as he realized he was surrounded. Ammandou and Tsukuso snuck up on him from behind. He screamed as they tackled him to the ground before tying Konshou's hands behind his back.

As they escorted him away he screamed, “This won't be the last you see of me!” His voice sounding rough and broken. Their footsteps faded away as they walked, most of the other doushin going with them.

Heizou breathed a sigh of relief as Owada and Uesugi jogged up to Heizou.

"Thank you so much. I'm very sorry for Hiroko's lack of ears." Owada said. Heizou laughed. Owada looked at him, then his bleeding shoulder. “We should get you to the infirmary. Now.” Owada said. Heizou nodded and Owada grabbed Hiroko's arm and started walking. Heizou followed and he could hear Uesugi fall into step beside him.

"Honestly I find it a little hard to blame,” Heizou started, “that's something I would do. He has the makings of a great detective. He's smart, he asks questions and most importantly he doesn't give up, even when others tell him to.” He said. “Still, it would be better if he didn't unknowingly charge into danger,"

"Reminds me of a detective I know." Owada said. throwing him a dirty look. Heizou laughed nervously.

A sniffle could be heard and both Owada and Heizou looked over at where the sound originated. Hiroko stood there, trying not to cry.

"Hiroko? What's wrong?" Heizou asked.

"You didn't get hurt did you?" Owada said, checking him over. He found no blood or obvious injuries.

"No. I'm so sorry Mr. Cyclone. I should have listened and now you're hurt because of me." He cried, tears streaming down his face. Heizou rested a hand on Owada's shoulder, signaling for him to stop.

"It's alright, these things happen in this line of work.” Heizou said. Hiroko ran forward and hugged Heizou, sobbing with tears streaming down his face. He was barely taller than Heziou's waist, so Heizou could only rest a hand on his back. After a moment he shooed Hiroko away and pulled out a roll of bandages from his pocket.

Hiroko looked up at him. Heizou was trying to wrap his shoulder in bandages, but his fingers fumbled them and he almost dropped them. Luckily Uesugi caught them.

“You know this won't do anything, right?” he asked.

“Of course I do, but I would prefer not to bleed all over Inazuma City.” Heizou said. Uesugi nodded and started wrapping Heizou's shoulder lightly, just enough to stop the bleeding.

Beside them Hiroko continued to sob, snot running from his nose. Owada looked at him and pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his nose.

"Where's the infirmary?" Hiroko asked through his sobs. Owada pointed towards Inazuma city, to where Konshou, Ammandou and Tsukuso went. Hiroko said nothing, but once Uesugi finished wrapping Heizou's shoulder, Hiroko stepped forward and grabbed Heizou's hand, pulling him forward. Heizou smiled and followed him, with Owada and Uesugi following the both of them.

As they came to the city Heizou took the lead. Along the way blood had started to run down his arm again and he stopped to wrap his shoulder in more bandages. Hiroko watched him nervously, glancing around, itching to get moving again. Soon enough Heizou stood back up and they continued.

Heizou seemed unsteady on his feet and didn't look around much, not even when a bird took off from the branches of a nearby tree. Uesugi noticed he looked paler, and his breath came slightly faster. He didn't say anything and neither did Owada but they both realized he was losing too much blood.

Heizou led them to a building and Owada hurriedly ushered Heizou inside. They were greeted by a group of people dressed as nurses who almost immediately rushed Heizou farther inside while Uesugi, Owada and Hiroko were left waiting outside.

-------

Hiroko went back to the police station with Owada and Uesugi shortly after. He wanted to see how the case ended, since he wanted to tell Heizou. Owada had taken the case over and wrapped it up quickly, seeing as he knew why Konshou did what he did.

Owada had arrested Konshou a couple years ago for being a public nuisance. It wasn't anything serious, but Konshou saw it as a threat to his entire life. He had spent years training with the sword to exact his revenge. Luckily he hadn't caused any serious harm other than Heizou's shoulder, but he was still jailed for attempted murder, along with his other crimes.

Hiroko stayed with his sister and grandfather for the rest of the day. He found it awfully boring but he stayed put. When the day was finally over the three of them walked through Inazuma City's streets.

It wasn't long before Hiroko was doing the same thing as before, running forward and backwards while Owada walked forward at a steady pace. Hiroko's sister was tying a knot in a decorative manner and kept falling behind, so Owada was tied up between making sure his granddaughter didn't fall too far behind and that his grandson didn't get too far ahead.

They entered the infirmary and were pointed in Heizou's direction. Heizou was sitting on a bed, staring out the window. He no longer wore his uniform, now he wore a simple Yukata shirt and plain pants. As they entered the room he turned to look at them.

"Oh, hey Owada, Hiroko. It feels like I haven't seen you in forever.” Heizou joked. “I'm afraid I didn't catch your name though," he said looking at Owada's granddaughter.

She looked up at him. "I'm Tsuoka. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Cyclone," she said shyly. She held the knot she had woven out of the string. "Here, this is for you. It's a Liyue art, I think it's called a Jixiang knot...? I was wanting to wish you a good recovery in a unique way. I hope I did it right." She said. Heizou smiled and took the knot, holding it carefully. It was crudely woven and looked like it would fall apart any moment, but that didn't matter to Heizou.

"Thank you, that's very sweet." Heizou said. Tsuoka smiled and took a step back. "So is there any reason you came to see me?"

"Just to come check on you. You worried me back there, with that massive gash. How's your shoulder now?"

"The healers did an excellent job, not even a scar left. I'm still stuck here for a few more hours, but that's just so they can keep an eye on me in case anything else comes up."

"Really? There isn't even a scar? Can I see?" Hiroko said as he climbed up onto the bed. Heizou laughed and pulled down his sleeve slightly, showing his shoulder to the boy.

"See? Nothing there except skin." Heizou said, pulling his sleeve back up.

"Wooow. Healers are so cool! Maybe I should be a healer, so I can patch you up!"

"What?! I was going to be the doctor, you were going to be the detective," Tsuoka said.

"But now I wanna be a doctor too. They help people..." Hiroko said.

"Well, many doushin, including myself, know first aid and can administer it on the front lines. It's like the best of both worlds." Heizou interjected, trying to defuse their argument.

"Oh, now I wanna be a detective too!" Tsuoka said.

"What?! Hey, that's my thing!" Hiroko argued.

Heizou watched as the two children squabbled and looked helplessly at Owada. He looked equally unsure.

"Hey Hiroko, why don't you tell Mr. Shi- Mr. Cyclone about the ending of the case?"

"Oh yeah! After Mr. Am-, um, Ammanaso and Tsu, Tsukudou-"

"Ammandou and Tsukuso," Owada corrected.

"After Mr. Ammandou and Mr. Tsukuso brought that guy back to the police station, grandpa went and interrogated him. I didn't get to watch, but grandpa said something about how the guy wanted revenge. But now it's all okay because he's behind bars. He can't hurt anyone anymore." Hirokawa said, parroting what Heizou had said earlier in the day. "Oh, and they found the old man's stuff and gave it back to him! It was hidden in a cave north of here! Although I wasn't aloud to go with to get it either."

"You've already seen enough action today and you weren't even supposed to see any." Owada mumbled, quiet enough to escape Hiroko's ears.

"But they said there was an abyss mage guarding the cave! It was super scary and it shot icicles at them!" Hirowaka said.

"Oh my, that sounds bad. Did anyone get hurt?" Heizou said.

"Nope! Doushin are really cool, they can fight anything and walk away without a scratch!" Hiroko said.

"If only that were true," Heizou grumbled, quiet enough so Hiroko couldn't hear. "Anyway, I'm glad everything ended well. Now you, Tsuoka and Owada are safe again."

"Yeah! Grandpa was really cool! And you were too! How did you jump so high in the air? Can I learn how to do that?" Hiroko asked.

"Oh, it's because of my vision. It's an anemo vision, so I was using the wind to lift myself into the air. It wasn't really jumping," Heizou said.

"That's so cool. If I get a vision I want an anemo one so I can do that too!" Hirokawa said.

"Haha, that would be pretty cool," Heizou agreed

"Hey Mr. Cyclone, are we friends now?"

"You know you can just call me Heizou,"

"But that doesn't sound as cool as Cyclone..."

"No it doesn't, but it's my actual name."

"Oh right. Wait, does this mean we’re friends? Friends call each other by their names."

"Well, it's just nice to call people by their name. Although I don't mind being called Cyclone, usually it's only criminals and bad people who call me Cyclone, and you're a good person."

"Oh, okay I'll call you Mr. Heizou instead. Can we be friends though?" Hiroko pleaded.

"Alright, we can be friends," Heizou laughed, "but don't go telling anyone."

"Why? Are you embarrassed to be my friend?"

"No no no, it's not that," Heizou hurriedly said, "It's just that I've made a lot of people angry, like Konshou was angry at your grandpa, and because of that you were dragged into a fight. I wouldn't want you getting into trouble because of me."

"So this will be a secret! Like a secret mission!"

"Yeah, and the only other people that know are you, me, Owada and Tsuoka."

"So you guys are secret agents too! Just like in the stories mom tells us!"

"Yeah!" Tsuoka agreed excitedly. Heizou exchanged another glance with Owada. Owada looked humored, but he could tell what Heizou meant with his look.

"Alright guys, it's getting late, and Mr. Heizou looks tired. We should head home." Owada said.

"Aww, but I wanna tell him about those stories. Pleease? They were really good."

"Maybe next time, alright?"

"Alright, fine." Hiroko said, sighing dejectedly. He hopped off the bed and walked over to Owada who was waiting by the door. Tsuoka followed behind.

"Oh, Owada, could you handle this for me?" Heizou said, pulling a wad of papers from his pocket and holding it out. "It won't take long, but it needs be taken care of tonight."

Owada grabbed the papers and looked at them. It was for the young ladies case, just wrapping it up. Heizou had written down how the perpetrator had gotten into her house, along with her mother's address, where she had been staying.

"Sure, I'll handle this,"

"Thanks,"

Owada turned and walked back over to the door where his kids were waiting. All three turned and waved to Heizou as they walked out of the room, Hiroko following lastly.

"Bye-bye Mr. Heizou! See you later!"

"See you, Hiroko." Heizou said as he waved back. Finally Heizou was left with his thoughts. He was just glad Owada hadn't brought up the swords.