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Shuichi Saihara was entirely out of his element.
What the high profile politician who had requested him to investigate this case—the murder of his granddaughter, brutally stabbed on the night of her seventeenth birthday—was thinking, he had little clue. His best guess was that it had to do with his title and the renown that came with being a student at Hope's Peak Academy. It wouldn't surprise him if they thought he was some kind of prodigy because of that status, but in reality, it didn't mean much: he was an apprentice, a greenhorn in the world of criminal investigation.
The real genius was the other detective who had been assigned this case alongside him.
There was no doubt in his mind that Kyoko Kirigiri was the perfect fit for this job. Her conduct told of the years of experience she had over him, and her specialization in homicide only exaggerated the gap. However much he tried to make a better effort at driving away negative thoughts, that was the plain truth.
But the grieving family had made a point of getting both of them on the case, and he wouldn't deny their wish. Maybe they figured that two heads were better than one. This request was probably made under the assumption that their skills were equal, as they shared the same title of Ultimate Detective. Like he remotely deserved to be put in the same league as her.
Stop. Shuichi clenched his teeth beneath tight lips. Getting distracted would make him less productive, and it wasn't like comparing himself to Kyoko had ever benefited him before.
Right now, he needed all the brainpower he could muster to help her work out why it was that the murder weapon was nowhere to be found. None of the sharp objects they'd found matched the wound on the victim’s neck, and forensics had no success in finding blood on them. Had the culprit brought it here? No, the security detail was thorough for the soirée, so they must have used something in the mansion. Did the culprit take it with them, then? That too seemed impossible. The motion-activated cameras hadn't caught anyone or anything leaving before the police arrived. Did the culprit hide it somewhere? They'd practically turned this place upside down and found nothing.
"I don't understand," Shuichi muttered, pacing back and forth. "Where could it have gone?"
A short distance away, Kyoko stood, deliberating the situation more calmly than he was. She held her chin in a black-gloved hand. "It has to be here. It's impossible for the murder weapon to have left the house."
"It's not that I don't agree," he began, frown deepening. "Yet, we've investigated every single room, and we still haven't found it. Unless there's some secret area in this mansion..."
"Not likely. The head of this house told us that there's nothing of the sort, and the contractor's records confirmed he was there when it went through a complete renovation two years ago. Evidently, he has no motive to lie to us, either."
"Then why?"
There was a long stretch of silence as he attempted to sort through the muddled bits of information in his brain.
"Shuichi," Kyoko finally spoke, and he had to fight back the urge to tear his gaze away from hers, piercing and analytical. "You have bags under your eyes."
He blinked. "What?"
"Also, the edges of your sclera are tinted red. You didn't get much sleep last night, did you?"
They both knew the answer to that question. It was highly likely that she'd noticed since the beginning, but she'd done him the grace of not mentioning it until they weren't around the police squad. It didn't mean he wasn't still embarrassed, though. His hand reached for a nonexistent brim as he gave a haggard sigh, taking a lock of hair between his fingers instead.
"I'm sorry. I had some trouble falling asleep... So I just read over the case files until I passed out at my desk," he admitted with some amount of shame. What was he thinking, pulling an all-nighter right before this important investigation? "I know it isn't good for me."
As far as he could tell, there was neither sympathy nor scorn in her features. Kyoko was inscrutable as always. For all he knew, she might be secretly judging him for not taking care of himself.
"Then we should take a break."
"I'm fine. I can keep going."
"Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should."
Now she was wearing her disapproval openly. Great.
"But we haven't found anything concrete yet," he argued, despite knowing better. "I can't stop now. How about I take a break after I've figured out anything useful? Listen, maybe the contractor was wrong. We can check the records ourselves to see if—"
"You know as well as I do that there's no point. Breaks are as important as any other part of the job." Her look was pointed. "Or do you not value my opinion as your partner?"
"N-No! That's not..."
Kyoko didn't wait for him to finish a sentence he was fumbling to find the end to. "Let's go. There's no time to get any meaningful rest, but there is something that would refresh your mind." She turned around and began to walk toward the exit, expecting him to follow.
And follow he did.
Shuichi took in everything on the table from the empty cup in front of him to the coffee pitcher in the center, guilt flickering across his eyes even with the knowledge that they were free to partake in this break room. Kyoko, sitting right across from him, had none of the hesitations he did. Dark liquid pooled into her cup and gave off wisps of steam as she poured her drink. When she immediately raised it to her lips after setting down the pitcher, he asked, without really thinking about it:
"You're not going to add anything to that?"
His upperclassman looked up. "No. Why would I?"
"I mean...it's really bitter. I couldn't drink it black." As if to illustrate his point, he reached for the small bowl of sugar cubes once he was done filling his own cup.
"It ruins the flavor." She took a meager sip. "I've been drinking it this way since I was a child."
A smile formed on his face. "As expected of someone like you..."
Though her expression barely shifted, the pause of bemusement made him feel as if he'd pressed a wrong button. "'Someone like me'? Could you elaborate?"
"Um." The explanation that popped into mind that was it seemed symbolic of themselves. Kyoko, the hardboiled detective, having a cup of pure black coffee. Him, the amateur sleuth, having an oversweet brown concoction. But instead of voicing that line of logic, he discarded it in favor of something that hopefully did not sound nearly as stupid. "It's just...a feeling I get? You're very stoic, so I guess it'd surprise me if you were fond of sweets."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Me being stoic is enough for you to make an assumption about my preferred tastes?"
"No, well—" The boy shook his head, his laugh a nervous sound. "S-Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." He took a drink to drown the embarrassment with hot coffee.
Kyoko gave no further comment before turning back to her own beverage. It left behind a silence that Shuichi felt was slightly awkward, but he also recognized that Kyoko was simply like this, and it didn't always mean she was offended. Though he wasn't confident he could call her a friend yet, they've talked several times before. Mainly to exchange thoughts on their current cases, with plenty of lulls when he didn't know what to say, or she seemed especially disinterested in conversing. She wasn't one for small talk, and that was fine with him.
But after a period of quiet, Shuichi shifted gears, speaking again. "I prefer tea myself. I like coffee just fine, but I grew up drinking tea since my uncle often had it in the house."
"Tea is alright," she remarked. "If I had a choice, I might have drunk it more, but it was out of necessity that I started drinking coffee."
"Because of your work?"
She nodded. "I happened to grow fond of the flavor over time."
There was a niggling concern for a younger Kyoko that he hoped was well hidden. "That's good. I used to ask my uncle about his detective work during tea time; he'd pour me a cup and tell me what happened to him that day. Of course, that stopped once I began working as his assistant, but it's a fond memory I have." He took pause. "Say, Kyoko, I've been wondering... You come from a long line of detectives, don't you?"
"I do. Is there something about my family that interests you?"
"Well, I can't help but be interested," he admitted, chuckling. "The Kirigiris are renowned in the industry. But that wasn't what I wanted to focus on... I wanted to ask if your family was the reason you became a detective."
Her countenance remained neutral even as her question struck him as accusatory. "What do you plan to do with that information?"
"What? Nothing. I was curious since you're the only other person I've met who also has a history of detective work in the family."
"I see." Accepting this, Kyoko gave her answer shortly: "...Maybe I did, and maybe I didn't."
"Huh?"
"I was raised to be a detective. You could say it was my family, the way I was educated, or the opportunities that shaped my experiences. Maybe it's all of those things, or none of them. Considering that, don't you think it'd be difficult to pinpoint exactly why I became a detective?" Crossing her arms, she finished, a firm candor to her words, "What I know is that I have pride in what I do. That's all I need."
"...That's...quite an answer." Whether she was being evasive or she genuinely couldn't tell why, he didn't know. All the same, it was apparent how intense she was when it came to her work. "But it makes sense."
"What about you?" A sliver of a smirk tugged at her lips. "It's only fair to share your origin after asking for mine. Was your uncle the reason you became a detective?"
His gaze flicked up, slightly surprised at the query. "Kind of. I only intended to help out at his agency as thanks for looking after me, but through that, I ended up becoming a detective and getting accepted to Hope's Peak." Not satisfied with that, he gave it more thought, staring down at his coffee cup. "However, I think the reason I stuck with it is simply that... I like being useful to people. It feels good to help out others with the skills and knowledge I've acquired. Even if that's a pretty generic answer."
"It's the answer you found on your own—I don't see a reason to think it inferior to others. Mine could be considered vague, but it doesn't matter."
"Ah, you're right, of course. We have our own goals and what we want to achieve as detectives. Our paths may be different, but even so, we're both searching for the truth." Shuichi gave a decisive nod. "Still, I'm glad I can understand your thought process more."
"...Likewise."
He had no idea what it was like to be raised as a detective. He couldn't imagine the things Kyoko's seen, what demanding jobs she's handled that made her rely on caffeine from probably too young an age. Perhaps that was part of why she pushed him to take a breather.
Because she didn't always have the privilege to?
But it was best not to overthink things, Shuichi figured.
For now, he would enjoy the taste of his sugary coffee and make the most of this reprieve.