Remnants in smouldered ashes

Chapter 16

This was a memory he had not so long ago.

At the time, the two of them were still in the process of learning how to cope with the losses. Ginoza at the time was wary of Akane's state of mind as she held a striking resemblance to Kougami's intuition. But at that time, he was still deeply affected by his father's death.

Up on the balcony he saw the desolate figure conversing in the silence, the high altitude brought forth wind as it billowed through the tiny figure. At first he thought nothing of it. Not until he first found out that a trail of smoke billowed from her hands. A striking resemblance to the ghost's figure in the after effects of Sasayama's death.

"Tsunemori," he called out.

She flinched at the sound of his voice and turned around.

In his view as he approached her, she held a cigarette between her two delicate fingers as the embers glowed and burned itself to smouldering ashes.

"Ginoza-san?"

He opened his mouth to speak, only to have it shut at the sight of the familiar light blue pack in her other hand.

"H-how are you holding up?"

He brushed the question under the rug as he realized what it was that she had been doing.

At the time, the two of them hadn't had a proper conversation for a while since they had their hands full with the load of work they had to do.

"I'm still getting the hang of it," she answered.

"I see."

He walked towards the railings by her side, leaning against the barrier of glass and gazed out into the open cityscape.

A silence followed them briefly, bringing him to make a side glance as he debated whether or not she would take a drag out of the cigarette between her fingers. The scent of the familiar brand she bought waft its way to his nose, bringing him to cough out the scent at that moment of inhaling it. Despite having to spend time with Kougami in the past, Ginoza could never get used to the scent of smoke.

"Ah, sorry," she said, extinguishing the embers with a tobacco pouch.

"When did you start smoking?"

"Eh?"

Akane looked up, flustered at the question.

"Ah, this?" she raised the pack a little. "A little over a month ago."

He nodded at her words as he tugged the tan trench-coat tighter around his back. He then took note of the dark circles under her eyes.

"I understand that you're under a lot of pressure, having to deal with everything by yourself," he said. "But I'd advise that you should take care of yourself a little better. The last thing I'd want to see is an inspector who would die out of overwork."

"Mm," she nodded.

"Tsunemori," his voice tightened to his old reprimanding self. "We were lucky in the last case because the criminal happened to have miscalculated the number of rounds in the barrel.* But really, inspectors are supposed to monitor enforcers' actions, not the other way around."

"But even so," she said. "I can't sit idly by and do nothing. I can't stand the thought of losing any more people due to my powerlessness, let alone having to make such a terrible mistake."

He tightened his lips into a thin line, understanding who was that she was referring to.

"That wasn't your fault. Every enforcer knows that's how they'll meet their end," Ginoza tugged at the fabric of his sleeve. "We're just cannon fodder to the system."