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The day after Valentine’s Day was slow business across the board, but perhaps none more so than the flower shops. Cafe Poirot could rely on passers by needing lunch and Kogoro wanting coffee. People generally did not need to buy a bouquet of roses daily.
Furuya wiped his brow after sweeping for the third time this morning. There had not been a single customer all day, but he was on shift. He should at least be working and not aware that he was in a completely silent building with only azaleas for company.
His phone buzzed. It was a message for Bourbon, no doubt wondering on the state of the current mission. Furuya cast a searching eye across the silent store.
The door bell chimed before he could send a reply. Furuya plastered on ‘Customer Service Smile #3’ (showing both top and bottom row of teeth, eyes upwards turned and closed) and turned around. The only reason the smile did not freeze or falter was Furuya’s years of training. Shuichi Akai walked in, without his usual disguise of Okiya Subaru, but instead a black apron over an equally black t-shirt. His knit cap was missing and the curly hair had been managed out of his face by a headband. On his right shoulder and forearm some prominent tattoos that Furuya had never seen were displayed.
“Welcome,” Rei finally settled on instead of throwing his mission in jeopardy. Akai simply nodded. He did not try to browse, just walked up to where Furuya was standing with the broom. Rei felt those dark green eyes stare at him, his own light blue glaring back.
“Can I help you find what you’re looking for?” He tried, more forcefully.
“Yes.” The dark haired man paused, almost not elaborating. “I need to take reference images of a particular arrangement. My client wants a specific Japanese flower as a background for their newest tattoo.”
“I see, and which Japanese flower would this happen to be?”
“The spider lily, a I’ve been told they grow in red, but not much more.”
“Ah this would then be a memorial tattoo, I assume?” Akai nodded in response. “We have some in stock.” The lilies were next to the daisies due to Rei reordering the entire shop over the past week he had been here. It was now a much more orderly arrangement. He plucked only a half dozen stems and shoved presented them directly in his stupid British face.
Akai had the sense to take a step back from the floral thrust and admire the blooms. A phone emerged from his apron and the camera flashed.
“People have been asking for this flower lately,” Rei posited to the air while Akai took a photo from another angle. “I suppose its interest in those serial murders that happened in the last few days. The killer, whoever they are, is leaving flowers beside the victims bodies.”
“Oh, is that so? Forgive me, I don’t keep up with the papers very much.” Akai responded; taking a third photo. “Too much killing these days turns me off of watching.”
“I see.”
A fourth photo was deemed enough angles to get the sense of the flower. Rei started to put them back, now content to be able to kick Akai out of the shop. Akai grabbed the flowers. Sky blue met verdant green in a gaze only a moment long, but somehow an eternity. Rei scanned for any idea what stubborn, foolish ploy this obviously was. Akai did not do anything without a reason.
“I’ll take them,” The dark haired man murmured.
Furuya felt his eyebrows knit together. “Very well then. Do you want them wrapped to go?”
Akai seemed to ponder this for a second, Furuya knew it was a farcical effort. “No. I shall take them exactly as they are.” He snuck a hand in his pants pocket and pulled out a small leather wallet. “Will 20,000 yen be enough?”
Furuya does not falter. “Yes, that would be enough.” He takes the two bills in a trembling fist and Akai finally leaves. The store returns to silence, save the sounds of Furuya’s breathing. The bills felt warm in his hand, the three sheets of paper rubbing against one another.
Wait…
Three?
There it was. Hidden by the two yen bills a small slip of notebook paper. Scrawled in simple black pen, a single message.
19:00 tonight at the new French place by the Tokyo Skytree
Furuya scoffed at the invitation to dinner, and tore the note to shreds.