Red Camellias

Chapter 5

I woke up in a hospital room. According to the nurse I had fainted. She left and after a while Chuuya hesitantly walked in, quietly closing the door behind him. He just stood there in silence staring at the floor.

After scanning his attire I managed to recall what had happened as he was still wearing the same thing.

"I understand you now. Toying with someone can be damn fun"

It was still raining outside. On the nightstand on the window side of my hospital bed was a bouquet of red Japanese camellias. I smiled sadly and caressed one of the flowers gently. So soft. So delicate.

"The nurse said that you can go home now" I turned to find Chuuya still standing on the same place, looking down at the floor. I stood slowly. Grabbed my jacket that was resting on a chair next to the nightstand with the bouquet and picked one of the flowers as well.

On a normal situation I would have pet his head or even kiss his orange head but the event from this night would change things between us.

The flower I claimed from the bouquet, I put it in his hair gently and kindly like a lover would. Did he know the meaning of such a beautiful flower? If he did not, I wasn't going to explain either and simply continued my way out with a "Come. Let's go home"

Morning came. A new day at the agency.

Apparently Kunikida had stayed up all night working on the case. At least when I walked in he was still sleeping soundly with his head on the desk. I sat in front of him and turned the laptop to me. Soon after, Atsushi walked in.

"Good morning! Oh. Sorry..."

"It's OK, he is still sleeping"

"Thank god" He whispered. "I'm kind of hungry so I'll be heading to the cafe first, alright?"

"Sure. Take Chuuya too, he must be hungry" I answered plainly not lifting my eyes from the computer screen for a single second. Not even when Chuuya complained about me ditching him to the agency's pet.

Things between me and Chuuya were clearly not OK. I haven't spoken to him since we returned from the hospital on the night before. In truth, I have been avoiding him but what the hell am I expecting to accomplish with that? I sighed and reread everything on the laptop as my mind had raced to the ginger beauty instead of focusing on the document before me.

I was so focused that I only noticed that Kunikida had woken up when he was already standing next to me. "This explains why they suddenly decided to kill the girls" I commented.

"Yes. All those innocent girls were nothing more than bait. Their true targets are the government, us and the Port Mafia"

I leaned back on the chair trying to crack this case Ranpo style which obviously didn't come out as well as I planned. Kunikida placed a hand on my shoulder. "No point in cracking your mind right now. Let's go feed our stomachs first" My belly growled in agreement. Thing is. I just wanted to use work to distract myself from the tiny carrot trouble I also had in hands. There was no way i could resist that sweet scent of homemade pastries and brewed coffee though.

As I walked in, I noticed Chuuya sat with Atsushi and Kyouka. Tanizaki and his sister were in the table behind them but were also taking part on the conversation. Kunikida and I sat at the counter as usual and ordered. The nice lady that never agreed on committing double suicide with me switched glances between me and Chuuya. She leaned forward and whispered. "Is everything alright?" It caught me off guard. Sure, I always heard that women have a sixth sense but it never crossed my mind that I would ever see it in action.

"Yeah. Of course" I smiled after snapping out of my temporary confusion. She raised an eyebrow, clearly seeing through me but didn't bother me further.