Remnants in smouldered ashes

Chapter 10

Day 4 since Tsunemori's absence. In his morning ritual which involved watering his potted plants, a marsh-mallow plant had begun to flower. Soft, delicate, baby-pink flowers hung from its stems, almost hidden from his view by its own leaves. For a brief moment, he couldn't help but compare the little flower to the missing inspector. When the thought had voiced itself out, he quickly banished it from his mind. Four days in and he was already losing his head around it.

It wasn't in his nature to sit around and succumb to the gloom forever. He decided that there has to be something he could do while she was away. With the investigation put to a halt, he couldn't sit well with the idea of not being able to contribute while the inspector was investigating overseas. The only thing he could do was resume to his shift when the hour comes.

He entered into the sparing rooms. To his surprise, Hinakawa was there in his attempt to spar with a sparring drone, its holo appearance likened to that of a merciless, muscular opponent. For a brief second, Ginoza would have sworn the drone looked unbelievably real.

Within less than a minute, the red-haired enforcer was down for the count.

"... Are you alright?"

Ginoza asked.

"Ah," the red-head stuttered, fumbling to sit up. "I-I'm alright."

The drone stood idly still. When Hinakawa picked himself up, he went straight for the charge. The end result was just the same, except this time he managed to stay on his feet for at least under two minutes.

Ginoza rarely had a proper conversation with Hinakawa, but seeing how the young man had continuously allowed himself to get beaten, he couldn't sit idly by.

"You set the bar too high," he said, "At the very least, set it at a level where you're able to fend for yourself."

The red-haired enforcer huffed as he managed to pick himself up again.

"I...I just wanted to get a little stronger," the young man fidgeted his words.

Ginoza took a good look at the frail, lanky figure and compared it to the masculine holo that was embedded onto the drone.

"There's no need to rush things," he assured him, "Just take one step at a time and you'll get there."

"B-but," his words hesitant to continue, "At this point... I won't... be able to match up to everyone..."

For a moment he paused at Hinakawa's words. He too, wants to be of help to her....

"Don't worry about that," he said, "You're still young. You may have a long road ahead of you, but, I assure you won't be left behind."

If Dad were here, he'd probably say the exact same thing.

In the end, Ginoza found himself giving the young man some advice on how to defend himself at very least. Hinakawa in turn, with a lot of courage, managed to voice out how he too wanted to protect Tsunemori in his own way. Regardless of whether it was genuine curiosity, Ginoza pondered why the young man would refer her as 'Onee-chan' for that matter. He could only do so much as to guess his reasons, but decided that would be too impersonal to pose the question. Not wanting to disturb him even further, Hinakawa excused himself even though Ginoza didn't mind it one bit.

Having taken note on his determination, Ginoza was once again reminded that he wasn't the only one who was concerned. The drone's holo was switched off when Hinakawa left, and so when he turned it back on, it came with no surprised to find out that the holo Hinakawa used was something of his own creation. Ginoza couldn't help but pity the young talented ex-holo designer. It was a shame his talent wouldn't be recognized due to his status.