One year later..
"I wanted to thank you," Julian said, leaning into the phone in his hand from the other side of a plastic barrier.
"For what?" Hajiri hid his confusion behind his token bright smile. But he'd changed drastically, too. His hair was shaved and his eyes looked tired. Between the uniform of bright orange and the suffocating LED lighting, his complexion looked drained and colorless.
"For saving my life.." Julian started. "And I'm sorry for-"
"What? For saving mine?" The prisoner cut him off, laughing to himself to deflect the memories.
"That wasn't your job to do," He regained his composure, leaning in as though their conversations weren't recorded through a phone. "I'm sorry that I even asked."
"No it's fine.."
"It's not fine," Hajiri smiled again, "Nothing about our situation has ever been fine from the get-go."
Julian laughed sarcastically, looking around uncomfortably. The fact he would come to a prison willingly and manage to keep
his composure told Hajiri a lot. He tried to put him at ease, "Tell me about how things have been..."
"They didn't send me back." Julian stated, wringing his wrists: an old nervous habit.
"See? I knew what I was talking about." The felon jeered.
"I've been in foster homes," He continued. "A handful of them. Ended up in Tokyo, for who knows how long. Turns out I'm not a particularly easy kid to handle."
"No one could expect you to be,"
"I'm trying to get a job here, be a little more independent. Seems I don't have a lot of skill sets either." Julian looked at him, eyes big and blue, unwilling to avoid the subject any longer.
"You look healthier, though. that's good." Hajiri smiled.
"You didn't have to let me.." His voice shrank to a whisper.
"I owed you everything. You owed me nothing." The criminal asserted. "You didn't have to forgive me. You didn't have to trust me."
"But I'm glad I did." The rosy cheeked teen pressed his lips in what could have been a smile.
"Yea, I'm glad you did too.."
YOU ARE READING
Detective Hajiri; Volume One
Mystery / Thriller"He wasn't young." "Seventeen is young, Kojima." "No it's not," The detective stated, matter-of-factly, now turned away from the scene. Moonlight traced a silver line across his features, lighting only his narrowed eyes. "They recruit them young. Mu...
