Joker's Game - Chapter 6
Finally, we ready with the sixth chapter - it took us long enough, I have to admit. We have the feeling that this story drags on a bit and we're sorry for this, but we needed some time to unfold the background of the case and everything. So I'm afraid there's a lot of talking in this chapter as well, but we have also the coming back of two characters from the prologues, so we're finally getting somewhere^^
I hope you enjoy reading this chapter :)
Authors: cherry_chan24, sakura_chan24
Pairings: Akame, JunDa
Rating: R
Disclaimer: We own nothing but the story.
Previous Chapter
Chapter 6: Tatsuya
The psychiatric ward was situated in the south wing of the hospital and had an separate entrance despite its small size to save the patients and visitors the long way through the main wing.
Jin and Kazuya found Aya in the nurse room on the third floor. “Good morning”, she greeted them with a smile and stood up from the table where she just flicked through some papers. “You’re lucky. I already visited Ueda-kun shortly this morning and by the look of it, he has one of his good days. Follow me, please.”
“We would like to speak with his parents as well”, Kazuya mentioned while they were following Aya down the corridor. “Would it be possible to give us their address?”
The nurse sighed sadly. “I’m sorry, but as far as I know, he doesn’t have parents anymore. I was told that they died when he was a child.”
Her announcement was followed by a depressed silence before Kazuya picked up the conversation again. “Does he have other relatives?”
“Only a cousin, Taguchi Junnosuke-san. He visits Ueda regularly.”
“Can we speak with him?”
Aya nodded. “I can look up his address for you later.”
“Thank you.”
Aya thought about it. “Today is Thursday… It’s possible that Taguchi-san will come later on anyway.”
“Does he come every Thursday?” Jin asked.
“Yes, he always comes at least three to four times per week. Always on different days, except for Thursdays. I never experienced that he skipped a Thursday. It’s his day off if I remember correctly. He really looks after his cousin a lot.”
„And what’s your impression about him?” Kazuya asked who was already holding his note book from sheer force of habit , ready to write the information about Taguchi down.
Aya shrugged. “He appears really friendly. It’s easy to chat with him. He tries to make you laugh, you know? Ueda-kun adores him. He seems to feel better when Taguchi-san is around that’s also one of the reason why I’m glad that he comes by often. But…,” Aya hesitated.
“But…” Kazuya probed.
She glanced at him insecure. “Well, it’s just a feeling… I really don’t know… I probably shouldn’t tell you about this…”
“Please,” Kazuya pressed her, „It could be important.”
“It…it’s just that Taguchi-san always appears so nice and friendly and there’s really absolutely no reason to be suspicious, but… You have to know, if you work here for a while you meet a whole lot of strange people…”
“You don’t say,” Jin murmured and tried to suppress a grin.
Aya threw him a sharp look. “I’m not speaking about the patience but the visitors who drop in. It’s… hard to describe…”
“So, what actually is it with this Taguchi guy?” Kazuya brought the conversation back to the actual subject before Aya could ramble on further.
Aya looked at him. “Like I said, he’s always nice and friendly and it’s really just a feeling of me… But sometimes when he watches Ueda-kun and he thinks that nobody is looking, he doesn’t seem friendly anymore, rather angry and sad - and guilty perhaps? In these moments, it’s like he’s surrounded by some kind of dark aura that disappears as soon as he notices that he’s being watched. I don’t know how to describe it in another way. Ah… we’re there.” She stopped in front of a white door that looked exactly like every other door on the corridor. The sign next to it designated it as room number 321 and Tatsuya’s name was written below. “When he has one of his childlike phases, he’s normally very open-minded about strangers. But nevertheless be careful about your actions and what you say please. His condition can change quit fast if he starts to feel uncomfortable or scared.” She waited until Kazuya and Jin signaled with a nod that they had understood. Then she knocked at the door and opened it without giving them the change to deepen the subject about Tatsuya’s cousin, even though Kazuya would have wanted to ask her some more questions.
Tatsuya’s room was painted in white like probably all hospital rooms. A narrow bed stood on the right side of the door. Its colorful sheets glowed in the sunlight that fell through the huge window at the opposite side of the room. CDs of different rock bands and two books of Steven King, of which “Pet Semetary” looked very well-thumbed, were lined up on the shelf. They stood in real contrast to the colorful scribble paintings that were hanging on the walls. Some building bricks, cuddle toys and picture books laid scattered around the little table in front of the window. A young man kneeled in front of it stacking the rest of the building blocks with a concentrated expression on his face. Carefully he placed the blocks on top of each other and with that he had already build a tower of considerable height. He was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t seem to notice their entrance. A single playing card lay next to him on the table. From the front side the well-known Joker grinned at them mockingly.
Jin and Kazuya exchanged a meaningful look while Aya approached the man slowly and crouched down next to him. Admiringly she looked at the tower. “You’ve really build a big tower, Tatsuya-kun,” she praised the young man. The man looked up and gave her a radiant smile that turned his expression more childlike. “And it will become muuuch bigger.” He threw up his arms excitedly and outlined how big the tower would become. “I’ll build it so that it’ll reach the ceiling and it will be the biggest tower in the world.”
“I’m sure of it,” Aya assured him. “It will certainly become a great tower.” Satisfied, Tatsuya dropped his arms. “Will you help me?” he begged the nurse. When she shook her head, he pushed his lower lip forward, sulking. “But it would be much more fun.” Aya smiled apologetically. “Maybe later,” she said. “But for now there are two nice policemen here who want to talk to you if that’s okay for you?”
Tatsuya turned his head and scrutinized Jin and Kazuya from top to bottom before he nodded and dropped the stone, he was holding, on the ground. Aya sighed of relief and indicated to Jin and Kazuya to come closer. While Jin stopped a few feet behind, Kazuya crouched down next to her so that his eyes were on one level with Tatsuya’s and smiled at him. “Hello, I’m Kazuya and that’s Jin.” He pointed at his boyfriend. “We heard that you have a card with a Joker on it and we would like to have a look at it.” He pointed with his finger at the card on the table. “It’s that one, isn’t it? Can I have it for a moment? Don’t worry, you’ll get it back in a minute,” he added when he noticed the mistrustful look in Tatsuya’s eyes. Hesitantly Tatsuya nodded and pushed the card in Kazuya’s direction. Kazuya took it and turned it around. As expected, the backside was red. He pulled his own card from his pocket and held it next to the other. Jin came closer and looked above his shoulder. The shades matched!
“Thank you.” Smiling Kazuya gave the card back to Tatsuya who took it hastily and pressed it against his chest. “Can you tell us where you got it?” Kazuya asked.
Tatsuya shook his head.
“Maybe someone gave it to you?”
Again a shake of the head, but something about Tatsuya changed. A glassy look appeared in his eyes and he seemed to look through Kazuya as if he didn’t really see him anymore.
Aya looked at him alarmed. “Tatsuya-kun?” Carefully she touched his shoulder. Tatsuya turned his head, but it didn’t seem as if he saw her. “It’s mine,” his voice sounded oddly monotonous, but there was a spark of defiance in his eyes. Aya smiled, relieved about his reaction. “I know that, Tatsuya-kun. Don’t worry, no one wants to take it from you.” She turned towards Jin and Kazuya. “I’m really sorry, but maybe it would be best if you…” Before she could end her sentence, there was a knock on the door and a tall young man with short black hair entered the room. He paused surprised when he saw the little group around the table, but when his eyes fell on Tatsuya, his expression darkened abruptly. “Who are you?” he demanded to know curtly . “What do you want from him?”
“Taguchi-san,” Aya greeted him friendly. “These gentlemen are from the police and…” Again she was interrupted. This time, however, it was Tatsuya who suddenly jumped up with a joyful cry, “Junno!” He threw his arms round the taller ones neck so tumultuously that Junnosuke reeled back a few steps. Smiling, he looked down on Tatsuya who was eagerly grabbing his sleeve and pointing excitedly at the tower. “Look, what a biiiiig tower I built.”
“You did really well with that,” Taguchi praised him admiringly and gave him a kiss on the forehead, but Kazuya noticed a trace of sadness in his look.
“You didn’t even look at it,” Tatsuya complained and dragged him to the table full of enthusiasm.
“It’s really a very beautiful and very big tower,” Taguchi praised again after he had examined the construction for an appropriate time.
Tatsuya grinned proudly. “And it will become muuuuch bigger.”
“That’s really great.” Junnosuke threw an appraising look at Jin and Kazuya who hadn’t moved an inch since he entered the room and bended down to Tatsuya to look into his eyes. “Listen Tat-chan, I have to speak to these gentlemen shortly. How about, you build your tower a little higher until I come back and then I’ll join you?”
“Okay,” with a happy smile Tatsuya got down to work again and Junnosuke beckoned the others on the corridor with a nod of his head.
After closing the door, Junnosuke turned towards the investigators and the nurse with a dangerous sparkle in his eyes. “What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed furiously. “What do you want from him?”
“Take it easy,” Jin answered in a calming voice and pulled out his badge. “Akanishi Jin. That’s my partner, Kamenashi-san,” he introduced them. “We have some questions for your cousin concerning the recent fire cases. You probably heard about them.”
In the first moment Junnosuke appeared to be honestly surprised. Then he uttered a disbelieving snort. “You can’t be serious.” Jin returned his look with a deadpan expression. “You are serious,” Junnosuke stated and rubbed his neck with his right hand. He threw a look above his shoulder at the door to Tatsuya’s room. “And will you tell me, how you got the idea that Tatsuya has something to do with it? He barely leaves the hospital and when he does, he’s never alone. His condition doesn’t allow it.”
“We’re sure that he isn’t a suspect,” Jin agreed, “But still, we found some evidence at the crime scenes and hoped that Ueda-san could help us to clear up some things. You don’t happen to know from where or how he got this joker card of his?”
At the mentioning of the joker card Junnosuke flinched but he maintained a deadpan expression. “Joker card?” he repeated. “What… Ah, you mean the one with the red backside. He was holding it when he woke up from the coma. I don’t know where he got it.”
“And you never asked him?” Kazuya raised an eyebrow in doubt.
“Of course I did at some point, but he doesn’t remember anything about the coma or the time before.”
“You’re speaking of the accident?” Jin asked. “May I ask what happened?”
In the first moment it seemed like Junnosuke wouldn’t answer. His dark expression from before turned sad and Kazuya thought that he noticed something else in it, too. “It was a car accident,” Junnosuke finally said with lowered head.
“A car accident?” Kazuya threw an excited look at Jin. “What happened?”
Junnosuke grimaced. “A car hit him when he ran over the street without looking. Listen, is this really important? I don’t think it has anything to do with your current case, has it?”
“No,” Jin admitted and threw a strict glance at Kazuya who wanted to contradict. “I’m sorry. For now, we’re only interested in the card.”
Junnosuke nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t see what the card has to do with the fires either,” he mumbled.
Jin scrutinized him appraisingly and considered how much they should tell him. Finally, he came to the conclusion that Junnosuke had the right to know why they were asking these questions from him and answered, “Cards like that were found at all crime scenes and we’re trying to figure out how they got there.”
“I understand,” Junnosuke said, but in Kazuya’s ears it sounded too indifferent and he didn’t fail to notice the short hesitation and the strain in the other’s voice. “So, where have you been Saturday night between 11:30pm and midnight?” he asked boldly.
Junnosuke smiled wryly but there was no note of amusement in his face, “ So now I’m the suspect?”
“It’s just a routine question,” Kazuya assured him.
Junnosuke sighed. “I was at home at around half past eleven yesterday night. Before that, I took a stroll in the streets. Alone.”
Kazuya raised an eyebrow. “Can somebody verify that?”
Junnosuke frowned thoughtfully. “I’m not sure. Maybe the guy at the gas station where I bought beer…” He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“All right, thanks. Can you tell us which gas station so that we can check it?”
Junnosuke named the address. “Is that all? ‘Cause I’d like to go back to Tatsuya now,” there was a note of impatience in his voice.
“Yes, that would be all for now. But we may get back to you during our investigation, so please be available for further questions,” Kazuya explained. “In case you remember something else in the meantime, here’s my card.”
Junnosuke took the business card with little enthusiasm. The prospect of seeing the two police men again didn’t seem to please him but he didn’t say anything and just nodded a farewell before he went back into Tatsuya’s room.
Jin starred at the closed door thoughtfully. “Do you know something about the accident?” he asked Aya who had watched their conversation silently.
The nurse shook her head. “Not much, I’m afraid. Tatsuya-kun doesn’t remember and Taguchi-san doesn’t speak about it. I never asked about it either. All I know is that he ran out of the house on the street and was struck by a car. I don’t know the reason, though.”
“Were there any witnesses?”
“I don’t know.”
“One last question: What has caused Ueda-kun’s reaction just now? Do you think it’s possible that the card was the trigger or was it just a coincidence and there was something else that we failed to notice?”
“I’m afraid, I don’t really know that either,” Aya replied hesitantly. “It’s possible that his subconscious reacted to your question. The doctors didn’t want to exclude that parts of his memory are still there and that he just represses them. But it could be something else, as well. We don’t know the reason for most of his attacks. Something like that has happened a lot already. In the first moment he’s a little child, awake and responsive and the next moment he just sits in a corner and doesn’t react on anything.”
“Thank you. We don’t want to keep you from work any longer. Thanks for your help. We’ll be on our way.” Jin bowed slightly. “If you remember something else, you can call us anytime.”
Aya nodded and said goodbye. Jin and Kazuya watched her as she walked down the corridor before heading in the other direction.
“You’re thinking the same, aren’t you?” Kazuya stated excitedly while they were walking back the corridor.
“Is that so?” Amused Jin raised an eyebrow. “And what am I thinking?”
Kazuya pushed him slightly. “A young man runs in front of a car and wakes up with a joker card in his hand that happens to look exactly the same as the others of which no one can tell where they’re coming from. Possible a joker case that that we missed until now?”
Jin nodded grimly and held open the door to the staircase for Kazuya. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, yet. It’s possible that all of this is just sheer coincidence, but I don’t really believe in coincidences in this case any longer.” He pushed the button for the elevator with force. “So, let’s find out what happened at that time. Maybe someone in the emergency room remembers how Ueda-san was admitted and then we should urgently speak with that doctor - was it Kawashima?”
“For that, we have to find him first,” Kazuya reminded him.
“That should be our slightest problem. What do we have Maru for?” Jin grinned. “I call him as soon as were done here.”
“Wouldn’t it be much easier to ask Taguchi-san?” Kazuya asked. “Why did you stop me?”
Jin sighed. “Because Taguchi-san obviously didn’t want to talk about it and I think it’s best if we form an opinion about the situation beforehand. It won’t get us anywhere if we set him against us before we even know with what we’re dealing here.” He looked at Kazuya questioningly. “What’s the matter with you anyway? Normally you’re the one who holds me back and preaches patience and caution.” The elevator door slid open and Jin stepped into the cabin.
Kazuya sleeked a strand of his hair back behind his ear and followed him. “It was a car accident, just like…” He didn’t have to end the sentence for Jin to understand. “I want to know what happened at last,” Kazuya continued. Jin wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and pulled him close. “We’ll find him,” he whispered in his ear. “But it won’t help us if we’re hurry now and overlook something.”
“I know,” Kazuya murmured and snuggled deeper into Jin’s hug that, for a little moment, gave him peace and safety.
It became apparent that one of the nurses in the emergency room in fact remembered the incident, but couldn’t tell them much news about it. Tatsuya had been admitted with heavy head injuries after his accident and had been moved to the intensive care unit right away. To be frank, it was a miracle that he had recovered this far. The doctors hadn’t given him a week at that time.
“That wasn’t really worthwhile,” Jin summarized when they walked through the main entrance.
“You’re right. But we should real… Sorry.” Kazuya hadn’t paid attention to his surroundings while he walked and had almost bumped into a man who was walking the opposite direction about to enter the hospital. “Don’t mind,” the man refused when Kazuya bowed hastily and gave him a bright smile before he continued his way. Confused, Kazuya followed him with his eyes. Somehow, the man looked familiar to him. He frowned and tried to remember, but he couldn’t. With a shrug he turned towards Jin again, “What I wanted to say, we should really speak with Kawashima-sensei soon.”
Jin nodded in agreement and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’ll ask Maru to find out where he works now. With a whole lot of luck, he’ll manage it before the meeting this afternoon.”
While he was on the phone with Yuichi , Kazuya grabbed his hand which Jin answered with a surprised look. Normally Kazuya was against the demonstration of affection in public but today seemed to be an exception. Smiling Jin closed his fingers around Kazuya’s and hand in hand they walked on towards their car.
The Joker watched the couple through the glass of the sliding door. Absent-minded he rubbed his shoulder with which he bumped into Kazuya. So they had found Tatsuya. Well, that had to be expected at some point, but it was unexpected that it happened this early. On the other hand, no one could have imagined what kind of connections this case would bring to light. The nurse who was related to one of the suspects had been a lucky coincidence that even the Joker hadn’t foreseen. The Joker took his eyes off the police men who were walking hand in hand towards the parking lot and let his gaze wander over the windows of the south wing which was very well visible from the main entrance due to the L-form of the building. Behind one of the windows on the third floor, the outline of a tall figure was showing. Because of the distance and the reflections on the window pane, the face wasn’t discernible, but the Joker could feel Junnosuke’s dark look with which he watched the two police men. A devious smile appeared on the Joker’s face. Maybe he could use this encounter for his own benefit… The outlines of a plan began to form in his head. Soon, someone would experience an unpleasant surprise. The anticipation of it enticed him to a quite laughter. Then he turned again to the entrance door through which he had entered a few minutes ago. In the next moment he had vanished.
The young nurse who performed her duty at the reception in the entrance hall and who had watched the handsome stranger interested blinked confused and turned back to her work.
***
They were lucky. “I found your physician,” Yuichi announced when he followed Kazuya into the meeting room. Surprised Kazuya turned around. “That was fast.” He beckoned Jin who was already sitting at the table and talking with Tegomass. Now he excused himself and joined Kazuya and Yuichi at the door. “What’s up?” he asked Yuichi. “I found your physician,” Yuichi repeated.
It turned out that it hadn’t been difficult to find the needed information. Kawashima was apparently famous among experts and a leading expert in neurobiology research. The respected neurologist had been awarded with numerous prices for his successes in science in the past years. But Yuichi’s news got a little clouded when he told Kazuya and Jin that their most promising witness in Tatsuya’s case had moved to America where he worked for one of the leading hospitals for neurobiology. “But…,” he continued, ignoring the disappointed faces of his friends, “I talked with his very nice secretary - for which accounting won’t be thankful when the phone bill arrives - and she was very open-minded about your request which is why she squeezed you into his schedule tomorrow at 11:40am. You have exactly 20 minutes until his lunch break. So, don’t waste them. Here is his Skype address.” He handed a note to Kazuya. “You’re a genius, Maru,” Kazuya announced effusively.
“I know,” Yuichi returned unaffected. “You would be at a total fix without me.” He grinned. For a moment he looked as if he wanted to add something, but in that moment Takuya and Hiromitsu entered the room and the three hurried to their seats.
The meeting started little promising. At the beginning, Yuichi repeated what he had learned from the experts of the fire department: There was no sign for a detonator on all crime scenes. Instead it rather looked like the fires had been lit with matches alone. This information surprised the others, but although Yuu had to admit that his theory had been cleared up with that, they reached no new result in the matter. But they all agreed that an accomplice of the Joker could hardly be excluded under these circumstances. Because how else had he been able to start all three fires at exactly the same time? The matches were a certain hint that the culprit had to be on site at the outbreak of the fires.
The unit around Ryo couldn’t show any new information too, as Hiromitsu told them. Ryo and Shigeaki themselves weren’t present because the questioning of the employees of Yoshimoto’s restaurants took longer than expected. “Until now, all employees worthy of consideration seem to have an alibi for the stated time, but as I said, we didn’t question all of them till now,” Hiromitsu summarized Shigeaki’s telephone report. “Same goes for the restaurant owners involved in the litigation,” Takahisa added. “We’re still checking two alibis, but the others are watertight.” Next to him Yuya nodded confirming.
Takuya sighed frustrated, „Well, seems like we’re at a dead end,” his hopeful look turned to Jin and Kazuya. “Please tell me you found something.”
Jin and Kazuya exchanged a quick look. “Not really,” Jin finally answered hesitantly.
“Yahara-san has an alibi, too, same goes for the rest of his family. Except for the son. His alibi is a bit tenuous, but we couldn’t check it yet,” Kazuya explained.
Takuya gave a sign of relief. “A first suspect then.” He gave Hiromitsu a sign who immediately started to write something in his files. “Well done,” Takuya praised. “Do we know where the son can be found?”
Kazuya nodded. “But actually, I don’t think that he has something to do with it.” He threw a quick look at Jin before he continued, “That’s not all. We found something else.” He hesitated, because he wasn’t sure how to convey the news the best way, “If Jin’s and my assumption is correct… we came across another joker case.”
His announcement was followed by astonished silence. Nobody had expected that.
“What’s that supposed to mean,” Takuya finally asked.
“Yahara-san’s daughter works at the psychiatric ward of the hospital and she has identified the card. She says one of her patients also has a card like this. We already checked and the said card actually looks like the others. But we couldn’t have it checked by laboratory yet, so we can only rely on what we have seen.”
“How does someone in the psychiatric ward gets a joker card,” Yuya asked surprised.
Kazuya shrugged. “We still don’t know. And unfortunately, the owner of the card is in no condition to answer our questions, because he lost his memories in a car accident six years ago. His mental condition is pretty unstable. We spoke to his cousin, though, but he couldn’t explain where he got the card either.”
“That’s not very much,” Hiromitsu pointed out doubtfully.
Kazuya nodded. “I know. Therefore we asked Yuichi to investigate the incident a little closer.” He signed to Yuichi who stood up and went over to the chart at the wall.
“Oh, the name of the patient is Ueda Tatsuya,” Kazuya added before he sat down and turned his attention to Yuichi who was tacking a picture of Tatsuya on the chart. It wasn’t the latest one, Kazuya saw that on first sight. Tatsuya looked younger and his hair was short and black, instead of shoulder-length and light brown. The cheerful smile, he showed them in the morning was also missing. Morose he looked in the camera. Kazuya couldn’t help but wonder what life Ueda had lived before the accident.
His thoughts were interrupted by Yuichi, “Well, I didn’t find out much in that short amount of time. What I’m about to tell you is primarily based on old reports I found in the records: Ueda’s mother died three years after Ueda’s birth from cancer. Ueda grew up with his father; an alcoholic who turns up several times in our database because of disturbance of piece and vandalism. There’s nothing about his relationship with his son, but I can imagine that there were some problems. He died seven years ago from a heart attack due to too much alcohol consumption.” He paused shortly. “Ueda shows up in the files just once, because of bodily harm during a fight. The picture is from there,” he pointed towards the chart in his back. “He was 16 at that time. Apparently he had a fight with a street gang in which he severely hurt one of his opponents. The parents of the boy pressed charges. The charge was dropped later on request of the victim. I couldn’t find anything else about his past. Also about the accident you mentioned,” he nodded towards Kazuya, “there is not much. Six years ago on the evening of June 6th Ueda ran out of his house and on the street where he was caught by a car. At least that’s written in the statement of the driver who sat inside the car. His statement is supported by another witness, Hanamura Kenji-san, who had been sitting at the window of the house opposite and had witnessed the whole thing. Ueda was brought into the hospital with severe injuries and underwent surgery right away. The doctors didn’t give him much chances of survival. There’s no statement of Ueda himself and therefore no one knows why he ran on the street. The incident was finally filed away as an accident and that’s all,” Yuichi ended his report. Takuya nodded at him, “Good job. Although I’m afraid that it won’t be much of a help.”
“You’re right. Nothing of that left us a hint to where he could have gotten the joker card,” Yuya said disappointed.
“Was Ueda alone that evening?” Jin asked Yuichi. Kazuya threw a quick look at him. He had been just about to ask the same question.
“There was nothing in the files,” Yuichi answered. “Do you think of his cousin?”
Jin nodded. “When we met Taguchi he made the impression that he rather wouldn’t talk about the incident. So I thought, maybe, he was there. Did you find something about him?”
Yuichi shook his head regretfully. “Sorry. I would have mentioned that problem next. If you think we have little about Ueda than you just have to look at what the database spew out about Taguchi Junnosuke: Nothing! We have nothing at all about him.”
Jin raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Did you ask at the hospital?”
“Of course. They had an address and an account from where the monthly costs for Ueda’s treatment is debited. But they wouldn’t give me any more information without a court order. Data protection, you know. I’m still checking the address.”
Jin nodded. “Thanks.” He turned towards Takuya, “Do we get the order?”
Takuya frowned, “Unless there’re no clear grounds, it’ll be difficult.”
“Can’t you just say we have reasons to believe that Taguchi is in some way responsible for the accident?” Jin proposed.
Takuya raised an eyebrow, “We have?”
Jin shrugged, “Not really. But Taguchi definitely knows more than he wants to tell us - not only about the accident, but about the cards, too. Call it instinct if you want, but he’s involved in this case without fail.” Next to him Kazuya nodded confirmatory.
Takuya sighed. “Fine, I’ll talk to Koyama and see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
“But it won’t be easy. As far as I understood it, it’s a closed case. If you really want to investigate this Taguchi, I have to file a petition for reopening the case - and I can already tell you that management won’t be delighted about it. Not with the vague assumptions we have.”
“Then we have to find something that’s sufficient as evidence,” Kazuya said determined.
Yuichi nodded in agreement. „I check the witness statements about the accident again. Maybe I find something.”
Takuya looked around at the determined faces of his team and sighed. “All right. Then ask in the neighborhood again, too, whether really nobody has seen something. Yokoyama-san can assist you,” he threw a prompting look at Yuu who nodded, “Understood.”
“Looks like you finally found a partner who takes the boring enquiries off your shoulders,” Takahisa teased and grinned at Yuichi who pulled a wry face and returned to his seat. For some reason he didn’t look happy about the additional help.
“Tell me if you find something then I file the petition,” Takuya ordered Yuichi who answered with a small nod. “Is there anything else to report?”
“Yuichi has found the doctor who attended to Ueda after his accident. We speak to him tomorrow morning, maybe that’ll clear things up,” Kazuya said.
“Anything about the Yoshimoto case?”
The team members stayed silent.
“All right then. See that you check the two missing alibis,” Takuya ordered Tegomass. “Let’s hope that Nishikido’s team finds something useful. The meeting is closed.” With that he picked up his notes and left the room.
Frustrated Takahisa let his head drop on the tabletop. “We’ll never solve this case,” he complained.
Yuya laughed. “A little more optimism, please, we’re only at the start of the investigation.” He poked him encouragingly in the side. “You’ll see we solve this case in no time.”
Jin laughed at that mockingly. “Because we found out so much already.”
“Besides, the last times you said the same thing and in the end we had not a pennyworth,” Takahisa agreed and looked at Yuya reproachfully.
“Four damn years and we’ve got nothing,” Kazuya summarized the status of their investigation depressed. “Just some sketchy hints we don’t understand and…”
“Stop!” Yuya interrupted him and formed the “time-out”-sign with his hands. Bewildered he looked at his colleagues, “Why are you so pessimistic? Where is your confidence?”
The other kept silent.
“Really, you need to be more optimistic,” Yuya reproached them. “This time we’ll manage. I can feel it. Call it instinct if you want,” he threw an amused look at Jin who pulled a face at him in return.
Smiling Kazuya turned away. His look fell on Yuu who was sitting in front of him and was playing with a pile of playing cards since a while ago which lay fanned out at the table, backsides facing up. He had just pulled one from the pile and was now looking at it thoughtfully. The pictured on the front showed a queen of hearts. “The queen…,” he muttered away to himself in such a quiet voice that Kazuya barely understood him. He placed the card in front of him at the table and started to turn over some cards indiscriminately. At the fourth try he held the jack of hearts in hands. Slowly he shoved it with his index finger until it lay next to the queen.
Kazuya frowned at his actions. But before he could think any further about the strange behavior of his new colleague, Yuichi uttered a sigh and turned his attention back to the conversation. “Tegoshi’s right. We let ourselves go too much. If we want to achieve something with this investigation, we should get back to work now.” He turned to Yuu who was still tied up with his cards and didn’t hear him apparently. “Yokyoyama-san?” Yuichi asked after a confused look at the cards. Yuu looked up. “Let’s go, we’ve work to do:”
“Yes, I’m sorry,” Yuu apologized for his evident absent-mindedness and started to collect his cards while ignoring the curious looks of the others. He apologized again with a slight bow and followed Yuichi out off the room. The others looked after him surprised.
“Didn’t I say that he’s strange?” Takahisa said in a conspiratorial tone after the door had closed behind Yuu.
“So he is a little strange then,” Yuya said and put an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Every human has his flaws and habits. Although I have to admit that he leaves a pretty unusual impression,” he added. “But we’re all open-minded people in here, aren’t we?” he grinned cheekily.
“True, but just now that was really strange,” Takahisa submitted.
“Well, be that as it may, before we get occupied with the abstruse character of our new colleague, we should follow Maru’s example and get back to work,” Jin ended the discussion. “I don’t want to pull an all-nighter and I’m sure the same goes for you. Besides, Kame hasn’t written our report yet.”
“Oi!” Kame protested. “It’s my first time hearing that. When did we decide that?”
“Just now,” Jin answered grinning and put his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “While you were tied up with Yokoyama, my conscience fought a hard but fair fight. It shortly looked like the outcome would be to your benefit, but in the end my lack of enthusiasm won.”
Kazuya rolled his eyes. “And what makes you think that my enthusiasm is greater than yours?”
“Instinct,” Jin replied carefree and pushed Kazuya, who wanted to protest again, towards the door.
Little later they said opposite from each other at their desks in the office. Tired Kazuya ran his fingers through his hair and eyed the monitor of his computer grumpily. “How come it’s always me who writes our reports?
Jin shrugged innocently. “Your wording is better than mine and you type considerably faster.”
“You would be just as fast if you would write a little more often.”
“Okay, okay, how’s that: I write the next one.”
Kazuya frowned.
“The next two… three… now come on!”
Kazuya laughed and gave up his morose expression. “Promise?”
“Promise.” Eagerly Jin held his little finger up over the table. Kazuya rolled his eyes, “I wouldn’t have needed it this official.” Nevertheless he reached for Jin’s finger to seal the promise. Inwardly he had to repress a loving smile, though. He loved this little playful and childlike side of Jin which sometimes showed up in situations like this.
Jin grinned. “And now you should hurry, the sooner we can go home and…itai,” he howled with pain when Kazuya twisted his finger. With a grin Kazuya turned back to his report.
While Kazuya kept on typing, Jin started to play merry-go-round with his swivel chair. Kazuya tried his best to ignore him even though the movements which he saw from the corner of his eyes distracted him. Several times he was forced to correct a just written sentence because he had made a mistake. But when Jin started to hum silently to himself, too, he had enough, “Jin!”
“Hmm?” Jin stopped the turning movement of his chair and looked expectantly at Kazuya.
“You’re getting on my nerves.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t you have something to do?”
Jin thought about it for a moment. Then he stood up sweepingly, “I make coffee.” Kazuya sighed.
For a while, he his work progressed smoothly while Jin was busy with the coffee machine at the door. When the coffee was ready, Jin filled a cup for each of them and placed both next to Kazuya on the table. Then he wrapped his arms around Kazuya’s neck from behind and peeked at the monitor. “Do you still need long?”
Kazuya took a sip of his coffee and nearly burned his tongue. “Itai. No, I’m nearly done.”
“Good.”
Kazuya wanted to continue writing when Jin started to place light kisses on his neck, starting from his ear down to his shoulder. All at once, Kazuya had again difficulties concentrating on his work. “Jin?”
“Hmm?” Jin murmured between two kisses.
“That’s not helping.”
“You think so?” Jin grinned and turned Kazuya’s chair around until Kazuya could look him in the face. “I think it helps me quite a lot.” He sat down on Kazuya lap and placed his hands on Kazuya’s neck. Then he brought his face close to Kazuya’s, only centimeters were separating them. “I’m bored.”
“You said I should write the report,” Kazuya said. “If you…” But he couldn’t end the sentence because Jin silenced him with a long and passionate kiss which Kazuya was more than willing to return. Jin’s hands wandered under his t-shirt. For one moment Kazuya completely forgot that they were still at work and gave himself up to Jin’s caress. But then he suddenly stopped. Unwillingly Jin let go of him and looked at him questioningly, “What?”
Kazuya nodded towards the door. Jin turned around. An unknown young man with fuzzy brown hair stood in the doorframe and looked at them with big eyes awkwardly. Jin sighed. “Can we help you?”
“Erm… Nakamaru-san sent me to get a file from his desk. Erm…,” his gaze wandered through the room. “Is that Nakamaru-san’s desk?” He pointed at the said desk. “Ah…I think, I see it…erm…excuse me,” he hurried over to the desk and grabbed the red file. Just as hurried he was back at the door again. “Sorry again.”
When he was gone, Kazuya and Jin looked at each other. Then Kazuya pushed Jin from his lap and turned back to his desk. “I should see that I finish this.” Jin nodded and returned to his desk. “You’re right.”
***
After Kazuya had finally finished the report, they managed to get home without mentioning the Joker, Taguchi or their current case - to Jin’s great relief. While writing Kazuya had uttered some thoughts about all that again which had let to another heated discussion. Then in the car Kazuya had looked as if he wanted to say something again a few times, but Jin had managed successfully to turn his attention to other subjects.
After dinner Kazuya suggested to watch the baseball game he had recorded a few days ago. To his surprise Jin agreed immediately. Kazuya had the suspicion that Jin would have said “yes” to everything as long as it would keep him - Kazuya - from thinking too much about the case. He chuckled. With Jin’s agreement nothing stood in the way of his plan. The baseball game was only the first step of Kazuya’s evening program. He knew Jin well enough to know that he wasn’t able to spend a whole baseball game silently next to him on the sofa. Normally he started to get bored only after a few minutes and that was exactly what Kazuya was aiming for. The baseball game was recorded after all. It wouldn’t run away.
They made themselves comfortable on the couch with beer and chips. Kazuya started the recorded game and took a handful of chips before he leaned back and snuggled up to the back of the couch.
As he had foreseen it, it didn’t take long until Jin showed the first signs of boredom. When he started to move closer inconspicuously after nary a quarter of an hour, Kazuya had to try hard to repress a grin. Sometimes Jin was so foreseeable! Apparently without noticing anything Kazuya reached out and took some more chips from the bowl on the couch table. His eyes were fixed on the screen. Of course he could have turned to Jin and admit that tonight wasn’t about the baseball game, but why spoil all the fun? Jin was too cute when he wanted attention.
When he had reduced the distance between them to a minimum, Jin turned to Kazuya and wrapped an arm around his waist. Although Kazuya willingly gave way to Jin’s arm, he still concentrated on watching the game. Jin rested his chin on Kazuya’s shoulder and like that they sat for a while following the game.
“Interesting game,” Jin commented after another moment, his head still on Kazuya’s shoulder. Kazuya nearly burst with laughter, but managed to disguise it as a cough. Worried Jin lifted his head to look at him. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m okay. Just choked on a chip,” Kazuya gasped still coughing. Jin passed him his beer and Kazuya took a sip before he leaned back again. “Admit it, you don’t even know which team is currently winning, do you?” he couldn’t resist to ask.
“The one’s in the white tricot?”
Kazuya laughed. “Well guessed.”
“Who says I had to guess?”
Kazuya threw a knowing look at him from the side. A little offended Jin turned back to the screen and rested his head on Kazuya’s shoulder again.
A few more minutes passed in which they watched the game silently, but Jin couldn’t hold out for long again. This time he started to place kisses on Kazuya’s shoulder. When Kazuya didn’t show any reaction, he climbed on his lap and engaged him in a long and passionate kiss which Kazuya returned more than willingly - at least for some time. Jin’s hand wandered under Kazuya’s t-shirt and stroked his chest. The first kiss was followed by a second one. They only parted long enough to breath and when Jin’s hand finally found its way in Kazuya’s jeans, Kazuya felt that he was slowly but surely losing the control over the situation - not that it really bothered him, it just felt too good for that - but he couldn’t resist a last comment, “Jin?” he mumbled unclearly in between two kisses. The name was almost lost in a repressed moan.
“Hmm?” Jin let go off Kazuya’s mouth and kissed a way from his left ear down to his neck until the neckline of Kazuya’s t-shirt stopped him. His mouth returned to Kazuya’s while his hands stayed in Kazuya’s jeans.
“I can’t see anything,” Kazuya complained although he didn’t manage to put the necessary reprimand in his voice.
Jin let go of him shortly and grinned. “You don’t have to. Just close your eyes and…”
“I was speaking about the game. You’re covering… the screen.”
“Mhmm.” Jin pulled his hand out of Kazuya’s pants, but only to have two hands free for taking off Kazuya’s t-shirt. Kazuya gave him free rain and with that the baseball game was finally forgotten for this evening once and for all.
To be continued...
So, that was it for the sixth chapter. I hope you'll liked it. We're as always happy about comments :)
I hope you enjoy reading this chapter :)
Authors: cherry_chan24, sakura_chan24
Pairings: Akame, JunDa
Rating: R
Disclaimer: We own nothing but the story.
Previous Chapter
Chapter 6: Tatsuya
The psychiatric ward was situated in the south wing of the hospital and had an separate entrance despite its small size to save the patients and visitors the long way through the main wing.
Jin and Kazuya found Aya in the nurse room on the third floor. “Good morning”, she greeted them with a smile and stood up from the table where she just flicked through some papers. “You’re lucky. I already visited Ueda-kun shortly this morning and by the look of it, he has one of his good days. Follow me, please.”
“We would like to speak with his parents as well”, Kazuya mentioned while they were following Aya down the corridor. “Would it be possible to give us their address?”
The nurse sighed sadly. “I’m sorry, but as far as I know, he doesn’t have parents anymore. I was told that they died when he was a child.”
Her announcement was followed by a depressed silence before Kazuya picked up the conversation again. “Does he have other relatives?”
“Only a cousin, Taguchi Junnosuke-san. He visits Ueda regularly.”
“Can we speak with him?”
Aya nodded. “I can look up his address for you later.”
“Thank you.”
Aya thought about it. “Today is Thursday… It’s possible that Taguchi-san will come later on anyway.”
“Does he come every Thursday?” Jin asked.
“Yes, he always comes at least three to four times per week. Always on different days, except for Thursdays. I never experienced that he skipped a Thursday. It’s his day off if I remember correctly. He really looks after his cousin a lot.”
„And what’s your impression about him?” Kazuya asked who was already holding his note book from sheer force of habit , ready to write the information about Taguchi down.
Aya shrugged. “He appears really friendly. It’s easy to chat with him. He tries to make you laugh, you know? Ueda-kun adores him. He seems to feel better when Taguchi-san is around that’s also one of the reason why I’m glad that he comes by often. But…,” Aya hesitated.
“But…” Kazuya probed.
She glanced at him insecure. “Well, it’s just a feeling… I really don’t know… I probably shouldn’t tell you about this…”
“Please,” Kazuya pressed her, „It could be important.”
“It…it’s just that Taguchi-san always appears so nice and friendly and there’s really absolutely no reason to be suspicious, but… You have to know, if you work here for a while you meet a whole lot of strange people…”
“You don’t say,” Jin murmured and tried to suppress a grin.
Aya threw him a sharp look. “I’m not speaking about the patience but the visitors who drop in. It’s… hard to describe…”
“So, what actually is it with this Taguchi guy?” Kazuya brought the conversation back to the actual subject before Aya could ramble on further.
Aya looked at him. “Like I said, he’s always nice and friendly and it’s really just a feeling of me… But sometimes when he watches Ueda-kun and he thinks that nobody is looking, he doesn’t seem friendly anymore, rather angry and sad - and guilty perhaps? In these moments, it’s like he’s surrounded by some kind of dark aura that disappears as soon as he notices that he’s being watched. I don’t know how to describe it in another way. Ah… we’re there.” She stopped in front of a white door that looked exactly like every other door on the corridor. The sign next to it designated it as room number 321 and Tatsuya’s name was written below. “When he has one of his childlike phases, he’s normally very open-minded about strangers. But nevertheless be careful about your actions and what you say please. His condition can change quit fast if he starts to feel uncomfortable or scared.” She waited until Kazuya and Jin signaled with a nod that they had understood. Then she knocked at the door and opened it without giving them the change to deepen the subject about Tatsuya’s cousin, even though Kazuya would have wanted to ask her some more questions.
Tatsuya’s room was painted in white like probably all hospital rooms. A narrow bed stood on the right side of the door. Its colorful sheets glowed in the sunlight that fell through the huge window at the opposite side of the room. CDs of different rock bands and two books of Steven King, of which “Pet Semetary” looked very well-thumbed, were lined up on the shelf. They stood in real contrast to the colorful scribble paintings that were hanging on the walls. Some building bricks, cuddle toys and picture books laid scattered around the little table in front of the window. A young man kneeled in front of it stacking the rest of the building blocks with a concentrated expression on his face. Carefully he placed the blocks on top of each other and with that he had already build a tower of considerable height. He was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t seem to notice their entrance. A single playing card lay next to him on the table. From the front side the well-known Joker grinned at them mockingly.
Jin and Kazuya exchanged a meaningful look while Aya approached the man slowly and crouched down next to him. Admiringly she looked at the tower. “You’ve really build a big tower, Tatsuya-kun,” she praised the young man. The man looked up and gave her a radiant smile that turned his expression more childlike. “And it will become muuuch bigger.” He threw up his arms excitedly and outlined how big the tower would become. “I’ll build it so that it’ll reach the ceiling and it will be the biggest tower in the world.”
“I’m sure of it,” Aya assured him. “It will certainly become a great tower.” Satisfied, Tatsuya dropped his arms. “Will you help me?” he begged the nurse. When she shook her head, he pushed his lower lip forward, sulking. “But it would be much more fun.” Aya smiled apologetically. “Maybe later,” she said. “But for now there are two nice policemen here who want to talk to you if that’s okay for you?”
Tatsuya turned his head and scrutinized Jin and Kazuya from top to bottom before he nodded and dropped the stone, he was holding, on the ground. Aya sighed of relief and indicated to Jin and Kazuya to come closer. While Jin stopped a few feet behind, Kazuya crouched down next to her so that his eyes were on one level with Tatsuya’s and smiled at him. “Hello, I’m Kazuya and that’s Jin.” He pointed at his boyfriend. “We heard that you have a card with a Joker on it and we would like to have a look at it.” He pointed with his finger at the card on the table. “It’s that one, isn’t it? Can I have it for a moment? Don’t worry, you’ll get it back in a minute,” he added when he noticed the mistrustful look in Tatsuya’s eyes. Hesitantly Tatsuya nodded and pushed the card in Kazuya’s direction. Kazuya took it and turned it around. As expected, the backside was red. He pulled his own card from his pocket and held it next to the other. Jin came closer and looked above his shoulder. The shades matched!
“Thank you.” Smiling Kazuya gave the card back to Tatsuya who took it hastily and pressed it against his chest. “Can you tell us where you got it?” Kazuya asked.
Tatsuya shook his head.
“Maybe someone gave it to you?”
Again a shake of the head, but something about Tatsuya changed. A glassy look appeared in his eyes and he seemed to look through Kazuya as if he didn’t really see him anymore.
Aya looked at him alarmed. “Tatsuya-kun?” Carefully she touched his shoulder. Tatsuya turned his head, but it didn’t seem as if he saw her. “It’s mine,” his voice sounded oddly monotonous, but there was a spark of defiance in his eyes. Aya smiled, relieved about his reaction. “I know that, Tatsuya-kun. Don’t worry, no one wants to take it from you.” She turned towards Jin and Kazuya. “I’m really sorry, but maybe it would be best if you…” Before she could end her sentence, there was a knock on the door and a tall young man with short black hair entered the room. He paused surprised when he saw the little group around the table, but when his eyes fell on Tatsuya, his expression darkened abruptly. “Who are you?” he demanded to know curtly . “What do you want from him?”
“Taguchi-san,” Aya greeted him friendly. “These gentlemen are from the police and…” Again she was interrupted. This time, however, it was Tatsuya who suddenly jumped up with a joyful cry, “Junno!” He threw his arms round the taller ones neck so tumultuously that Junnosuke reeled back a few steps. Smiling, he looked down on Tatsuya who was eagerly grabbing his sleeve and pointing excitedly at the tower. “Look, what a biiiiig tower I built.”
“You did really well with that,” Taguchi praised him admiringly and gave him a kiss on the forehead, but Kazuya noticed a trace of sadness in his look.
“You didn’t even look at it,” Tatsuya complained and dragged him to the table full of enthusiasm.
“It’s really a very beautiful and very big tower,” Taguchi praised again after he had examined the construction for an appropriate time.
Tatsuya grinned proudly. “And it will become muuuuch bigger.”
“That’s really great.” Junnosuke threw an appraising look at Jin and Kazuya who hadn’t moved an inch since he entered the room and bended down to Tatsuya to look into his eyes. “Listen Tat-chan, I have to speak to these gentlemen shortly. How about, you build your tower a little higher until I come back and then I’ll join you?”
“Okay,” with a happy smile Tatsuya got down to work again and Junnosuke beckoned the others on the corridor with a nod of his head.
After closing the door, Junnosuke turned towards the investigators and the nurse with a dangerous sparkle in his eyes. “What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed furiously. “What do you want from him?”
“Take it easy,” Jin answered in a calming voice and pulled out his badge. “Akanishi Jin. That’s my partner, Kamenashi-san,” he introduced them. “We have some questions for your cousin concerning the recent fire cases. You probably heard about them.”
In the first moment Junnosuke appeared to be honestly surprised. Then he uttered a disbelieving snort. “You can’t be serious.” Jin returned his look with a deadpan expression. “You are serious,” Junnosuke stated and rubbed his neck with his right hand. He threw a look above his shoulder at the door to Tatsuya’s room. “And will you tell me, how you got the idea that Tatsuya has something to do with it? He barely leaves the hospital and when he does, he’s never alone. His condition doesn’t allow it.”
“We’re sure that he isn’t a suspect,” Jin agreed, “But still, we found some evidence at the crime scenes and hoped that Ueda-san could help us to clear up some things. You don’t happen to know from where or how he got this joker card of his?”
At the mentioning of the joker card Junnosuke flinched but he maintained a deadpan expression. “Joker card?” he repeated. “What… Ah, you mean the one with the red backside. He was holding it when he woke up from the coma. I don’t know where he got it.”
“And you never asked him?” Kazuya raised an eyebrow in doubt.
“Of course I did at some point, but he doesn’t remember anything about the coma or the time before.”
“You’re speaking of the accident?” Jin asked. “May I ask what happened?”
In the first moment it seemed like Junnosuke wouldn’t answer. His dark expression from before turned sad and Kazuya thought that he noticed something else in it, too. “It was a car accident,” Junnosuke finally said with lowered head.
“A car accident?” Kazuya threw an excited look at Jin. “What happened?”
Junnosuke grimaced. “A car hit him when he ran over the street without looking. Listen, is this really important? I don’t think it has anything to do with your current case, has it?”
“No,” Jin admitted and threw a strict glance at Kazuya who wanted to contradict. “I’m sorry. For now, we’re only interested in the card.”
Junnosuke nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t see what the card has to do with the fires either,” he mumbled.
Jin scrutinized him appraisingly and considered how much they should tell him. Finally, he came to the conclusion that Junnosuke had the right to know why they were asking these questions from him and answered, “Cards like that were found at all crime scenes and we’re trying to figure out how they got there.”
“I understand,” Junnosuke said, but in Kazuya’s ears it sounded too indifferent and he didn’t fail to notice the short hesitation and the strain in the other’s voice. “So, where have you been Saturday night between 11:30pm and midnight?” he asked boldly.
Junnosuke smiled wryly but there was no note of amusement in his face, “ So now I’m the suspect?”
“It’s just a routine question,” Kazuya assured him.
Junnosuke sighed. “I was at home at around half past eleven yesterday night. Before that, I took a stroll in the streets. Alone.”
Kazuya raised an eyebrow. “Can somebody verify that?”
Junnosuke frowned thoughtfully. “I’m not sure. Maybe the guy at the gas station where I bought beer…” He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“All right, thanks. Can you tell us which gas station so that we can check it?”
Junnosuke named the address. “Is that all? ‘Cause I’d like to go back to Tatsuya now,” there was a note of impatience in his voice.
“Yes, that would be all for now. But we may get back to you during our investigation, so please be available for further questions,” Kazuya explained. “In case you remember something else in the meantime, here’s my card.”
Junnosuke took the business card with little enthusiasm. The prospect of seeing the two police men again didn’t seem to please him but he didn’t say anything and just nodded a farewell before he went back into Tatsuya’s room.
Jin starred at the closed door thoughtfully. “Do you know something about the accident?” he asked Aya who had watched their conversation silently.
The nurse shook her head. “Not much, I’m afraid. Tatsuya-kun doesn’t remember and Taguchi-san doesn’t speak about it. I never asked about it either. All I know is that he ran out of the house on the street and was struck by a car. I don’t know the reason, though.”
“Were there any witnesses?”
“I don’t know.”
“One last question: What has caused Ueda-kun’s reaction just now? Do you think it’s possible that the card was the trigger or was it just a coincidence and there was something else that we failed to notice?”
“I’m afraid, I don’t really know that either,” Aya replied hesitantly. “It’s possible that his subconscious reacted to your question. The doctors didn’t want to exclude that parts of his memory are still there and that he just represses them. But it could be something else, as well. We don’t know the reason for most of his attacks. Something like that has happened a lot already. In the first moment he’s a little child, awake and responsive and the next moment he just sits in a corner and doesn’t react on anything.”
“Thank you. We don’t want to keep you from work any longer. Thanks for your help. We’ll be on our way.” Jin bowed slightly. “If you remember something else, you can call us anytime.”
Aya nodded and said goodbye. Jin and Kazuya watched her as she walked down the corridor before heading in the other direction.
“You’re thinking the same, aren’t you?” Kazuya stated excitedly while they were walking back the corridor.
“Is that so?” Amused Jin raised an eyebrow. “And what am I thinking?”
Kazuya pushed him slightly. “A young man runs in front of a car and wakes up with a joker card in his hand that happens to look exactly the same as the others of which no one can tell where they’re coming from. Possible a joker case that that we missed until now?”
Jin nodded grimly and held open the door to the staircase for Kazuya. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, yet. It’s possible that all of this is just sheer coincidence, but I don’t really believe in coincidences in this case any longer.” He pushed the button for the elevator with force. “So, let’s find out what happened at that time. Maybe someone in the emergency room remembers how Ueda-san was admitted and then we should urgently speak with that doctor - was it Kawashima?”
“For that, we have to find him first,” Kazuya reminded him.
“That should be our slightest problem. What do we have Maru for?” Jin grinned. “I call him as soon as were done here.”
“Wouldn’t it be much easier to ask Taguchi-san?” Kazuya asked. “Why did you stop me?”
Jin sighed. “Because Taguchi-san obviously didn’t want to talk about it and I think it’s best if we form an opinion about the situation beforehand. It won’t get us anywhere if we set him against us before we even know with what we’re dealing here.” He looked at Kazuya questioningly. “What’s the matter with you anyway? Normally you’re the one who holds me back and preaches patience and caution.” The elevator door slid open and Jin stepped into the cabin.
Kazuya sleeked a strand of his hair back behind his ear and followed him. “It was a car accident, just like…” He didn’t have to end the sentence for Jin to understand. “I want to know what happened at last,” Kazuya continued. Jin wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and pulled him close. “We’ll find him,” he whispered in his ear. “But it won’t help us if we’re hurry now and overlook something.”
“I know,” Kazuya murmured and snuggled deeper into Jin’s hug that, for a little moment, gave him peace and safety.
It became apparent that one of the nurses in the emergency room in fact remembered the incident, but couldn’t tell them much news about it. Tatsuya had been admitted with heavy head injuries after his accident and had been moved to the intensive care unit right away. To be frank, it was a miracle that he had recovered this far. The doctors hadn’t given him a week at that time.
“That wasn’t really worthwhile,” Jin summarized when they walked through the main entrance.
“You’re right. But we should real… Sorry.” Kazuya hadn’t paid attention to his surroundings while he walked and had almost bumped into a man who was walking the opposite direction about to enter the hospital. “Don’t mind,” the man refused when Kazuya bowed hastily and gave him a bright smile before he continued his way. Confused, Kazuya followed him with his eyes. Somehow, the man looked familiar to him. He frowned and tried to remember, but he couldn’t. With a shrug he turned towards Jin again, “What I wanted to say, we should really speak with Kawashima-sensei soon.”
Jin nodded in agreement and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’ll ask Maru to find out where he works now. With a whole lot of luck, he’ll manage it before the meeting this afternoon.”
While he was on the phone with Yuichi , Kazuya grabbed his hand which Jin answered with a surprised look. Normally Kazuya was against the demonstration of affection in public but today seemed to be an exception. Smiling Jin closed his fingers around Kazuya’s and hand in hand they walked on towards their car.
The Joker watched the couple through the glass of the sliding door. Absent-minded he rubbed his shoulder with which he bumped into Kazuya. So they had found Tatsuya. Well, that had to be expected at some point, but it was unexpected that it happened this early. On the other hand, no one could have imagined what kind of connections this case would bring to light. The nurse who was related to one of the suspects had been a lucky coincidence that even the Joker hadn’t foreseen. The Joker took his eyes off the police men who were walking hand in hand towards the parking lot and let his gaze wander over the windows of the south wing which was very well visible from the main entrance due to the L-form of the building. Behind one of the windows on the third floor, the outline of a tall figure was showing. Because of the distance and the reflections on the window pane, the face wasn’t discernible, but the Joker could feel Junnosuke’s dark look with which he watched the two police men. A devious smile appeared on the Joker’s face. Maybe he could use this encounter for his own benefit… The outlines of a plan began to form in his head. Soon, someone would experience an unpleasant surprise. The anticipation of it enticed him to a quite laughter. Then he turned again to the entrance door through which he had entered a few minutes ago. In the next moment he had vanished.
The young nurse who performed her duty at the reception in the entrance hall and who had watched the handsome stranger interested blinked confused and turned back to her work.
***
They were lucky. “I found your physician,” Yuichi announced when he followed Kazuya into the meeting room. Surprised Kazuya turned around. “That was fast.” He beckoned Jin who was already sitting at the table and talking with Tegomass. Now he excused himself and joined Kazuya and Yuichi at the door. “What’s up?” he asked Yuichi. “I found your physician,” Yuichi repeated.
It turned out that it hadn’t been difficult to find the needed information. Kawashima was apparently famous among experts and a leading expert in neurobiology research. The respected neurologist had been awarded with numerous prices for his successes in science in the past years. But Yuichi’s news got a little clouded when he told Kazuya and Jin that their most promising witness in Tatsuya’s case had moved to America where he worked for one of the leading hospitals for neurobiology. “But…,” he continued, ignoring the disappointed faces of his friends, “I talked with his very nice secretary - for which accounting won’t be thankful when the phone bill arrives - and she was very open-minded about your request which is why she squeezed you into his schedule tomorrow at 11:40am. You have exactly 20 minutes until his lunch break. So, don’t waste them. Here is his Skype address.” He handed a note to Kazuya. “You’re a genius, Maru,” Kazuya announced effusively.
“I know,” Yuichi returned unaffected. “You would be at a total fix without me.” He grinned. For a moment he looked as if he wanted to add something, but in that moment Takuya and Hiromitsu entered the room and the three hurried to their seats.
The meeting started little promising. At the beginning, Yuichi repeated what he had learned from the experts of the fire department: There was no sign for a detonator on all crime scenes. Instead it rather looked like the fires had been lit with matches alone. This information surprised the others, but although Yuu had to admit that his theory had been cleared up with that, they reached no new result in the matter. But they all agreed that an accomplice of the Joker could hardly be excluded under these circumstances. Because how else had he been able to start all three fires at exactly the same time? The matches were a certain hint that the culprit had to be on site at the outbreak of the fires.
The unit around Ryo couldn’t show any new information too, as Hiromitsu told them. Ryo and Shigeaki themselves weren’t present because the questioning of the employees of Yoshimoto’s restaurants took longer than expected. “Until now, all employees worthy of consideration seem to have an alibi for the stated time, but as I said, we didn’t question all of them till now,” Hiromitsu summarized Shigeaki’s telephone report. “Same goes for the restaurant owners involved in the litigation,” Takahisa added. “We’re still checking two alibis, but the others are watertight.” Next to him Yuya nodded confirming.
Takuya sighed frustrated, „Well, seems like we’re at a dead end,” his hopeful look turned to Jin and Kazuya. “Please tell me you found something.”
Jin and Kazuya exchanged a quick look. “Not really,” Jin finally answered hesitantly.
“Yahara-san has an alibi, too, same goes for the rest of his family. Except for the son. His alibi is a bit tenuous, but we couldn’t check it yet,” Kazuya explained.
Takuya gave a sign of relief. “A first suspect then.” He gave Hiromitsu a sign who immediately started to write something in his files. “Well done,” Takuya praised. “Do we know where the son can be found?”
Kazuya nodded. “But actually, I don’t think that he has something to do with it.” He threw a quick look at Jin before he continued, “That’s not all. We found something else.” He hesitated, because he wasn’t sure how to convey the news the best way, “If Jin’s and my assumption is correct… we came across another joker case.”
His announcement was followed by astonished silence. Nobody had expected that.
“What’s that supposed to mean,” Takuya finally asked.
“Yahara-san’s daughter works at the psychiatric ward of the hospital and she has identified the card. She says one of her patients also has a card like this. We already checked and the said card actually looks like the others. But we couldn’t have it checked by laboratory yet, so we can only rely on what we have seen.”
“How does someone in the psychiatric ward gets a joker card,” Yuya asked surprised.
Kazuya shrugged. “We still don’t know. And unfortunately, the owner of the card is in no condition to answer our questions, because he lost his memories in a car accident six years ago. His mental condition is pretty unstable. We spoke to his cousin, though, but he couldn’t explain where he got the card either.”
“That’s not very much,” Hiromitsu pointed out doubtfully.
Kazuya nodded. “I know. Therefore we asked Yuichi to investigate the incident a little closer.” He signed to Yuichi who stood up and went over to the chart at the wall.
“Oh, the name of the patient is Ueda Tatsuya,” Kazuya added before he sat down and turned his attention to Yuichi who was tacking a picture of Tatsuya on the chart. It wasn’t the latest one, Kazuya saw that on first sight. Tatsuya looked younger and his hair was short and black, instead of shoulder-length and light brown. The cheerful smile, he showed them in the morning was also missing. Morose he looked in the camera. Kazuya couldn’t help but wonder what life Ueda had lived before the accident.
His thoughts were interrupted by Yuichi, “Well, I didn’t find out much in that short amount of time. What I’m about to tell you is primarily based on old reports I found in the records: Ueda’s mother died three years after Ueda’s birth from cancer. Ueda grew up with his father; an alcoholic who turns up several times in our database because of disturbance of piece and vandalism. There’s nothing about his relationship with his son, but I can imagine that there were some problems. He died seven years ago from a heart attack due to too much alcohol consumption.” He paused shortly. “Ueda shows up in the files just once, because of bodily harm during a fight. The picture is from there,” he pointed towards the chart in his back. “He was 16 at that time. Apparently he had a fight with a street gang in which he severely hurt one of his opponents. The parents of the boy pressed charges. The charge was dropped later on request of the victim. I couldn’t find anything else about his past. Also about the accident you mentioned,” he nodded towards Kazuya, “there is not much. Six years ago on the evening of June 6th Ueda ran out of his house and on the street where he was caught by a car. At least that’s written in the statement of the driver who sat inside the car. His statement is supported by another witness, Hanamura Kenji-san, who had been sitting at the window of the house opposite and had witnessed the whole thing. Ueda was brought into the hospital with severe injuries and underwent surgery right away. The doctors didn’t give him much chances of survival. There’s no statement of Ueda himself and therefore no one knows why he ran on the street. The incident was finally filed away as an accident and that’s all,” Yuichi ended his report. Takuya nodded at him, “Good job. Although I’m afraid that it won’t be much of a help.”
“You’re right. Nothing of that left us a hint to where he could have gotten the joker card,” Yuya said disappointed.
“Was Ueda alone that evening?” Jin asked Yuichi. Kazuya threw a quick look at him. He had been just about to ask the same question.
“There was nothing in the files,” Yuichi answered. “Do you think of his cousin?”
Jin nodded. “When we met Taguchi he made the impression that he rather wouldn’t talk about the incident. So I thought, maybe, he was there. Did you find something about him?”
Yuichi shook his head regretfully. “Sorry. I would have mentioned that problem next. If you think we have little about Ueda than you just have to look at what the database spew out about Taguchi Junnosuke: Nothing! We have nothing at all about him.”
Jin raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Did you ask at the hospital?”
“Of course. They had an address and an account from where the monthly costs for Ueda’s treatment is debited. But they wouldn’t give me any more information without a court order. Data protection, you know. I’m still checking the address.”
Jin nodded. “Thanks.” He turned towards Takuya, “Do we get the order?”
Takuya frowned, “Unless there’re no clear grounds, it’ll be difficult.”
“Can’t you just say we have reasons to believe that Taguchi is in some way responsible for the accident?” Jin proposed.
Takuya raised an eyebrow, “We have?”
Jin shrugged, “Not really. But Taguchi definitely knows more than he wants to tell us - not only about the accident, but about the cards, too. Call it instinct if you want, but he’s involved in this case without fail.” Next to him Kazuya nodded confirmatory.
Takuya sighed. “Fine, I’ll talk to Koyama and see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
“But it won’t be easy. As far as I understood it, it’s a closed case. If you really want to investigate this Taguchi, I have to file a petition for reopening the case - and I can already tell you that management won’t be delighted about it. Not with the vague assumptions we have.”
“Then we have to find something that’s sufficient as evidence,” Kazuya said determined.
Yuichi nodded in agreement. „I check the witness statements about the accident again. Maybe I find something.”
Takuya looked around at the determined faces of his team and sighed. “All right. Then ask in the neighborhood again, too, whether really nobody has seen something. Yokoyama-san can assist you,” he threw a prompting look at Yuu who nodded, “Understood.”
“Looks like you finally found a partner who takes the boring enquiries off your shoulders,” Takahisa teased and grinned at Yuichi who pulled a wry face and returned to his seat. For some reason he didn’t look happy about the additional help.
“Tell me if you find something then I file the petition,” Takuya ordered Yuichi who answered with a small nod. “Is there anything else to report?”
“Yuichi has found the doctor who attended to Ueda after his accident. We speak to him tomorrow morning, maybe that’ll clear things up,” Kazuya said.
“Anything about the Yoshimoto case?”
The team members stayed silent.
“All right then. See that you check the two missing alibis,” Takuya ordered Tegomass. “Let’s hope that Nishikido’s team finds something useful. The meeting is closed.” With that he picked up his notes and left the room.
Frustrated Takahisa let his head drop on the tabletop. “We’ll never solve this case,” he complained.
Yuya laughed. “A little more optimism, please, we’re only at the start of the investigation.” He poked him encouragingly in the side. “You’ll see we solve this case in no time.”
Jin laughed at that mockingly. “Because we found out so much already.”
“Besides, the last times you said the same thing and in the end we had not a pennyworth,” Takahisa agreed and looked at Yuya reproachfully.
“Four damn years and we’ve got nothing,” Kazuya summarized the status of their investigation depressed. “Just some sketchy hints we don’t understand and…”
“Stop!” Yuya interrupted him and formed the “time-out”-sign with his hands. Bewildered he looked at his colleagues, “Why are you so pessimistic? Where is your confidence?”
The other kept silent.
“Really, you need to be more optimistic,” Yuya reproached them. “This time we’ll manage. I can feel it. Call it instinct if you want,” he threw an amused look at Jin who pulled a face at him in return.
Smiling Kazuya turned away. His look fell on Yuu who was sitting in front of him and was playing with a pile of playing cards since a while ago which lay fanned out at the table, backsides facing up. He had just pulled one from the pile and was now looking at it thoughtfully. The pictured on the front showed a queen of hearts. “The queen…,” he muttered away to himself in such a quiet voice that Kazuya barely understood him. He placed the card in front of him at the table and started to turn over some cards indiscriminately. At the fourth try he held the jack of hearts in hands. Slowly he shoved it with his index finger until it lay next to the queen.
Kazuya frowned at his actions. But before he could think any further about the strange behavior of his new colleague, Yuichi uttered a sigh and turned his attention back to the conversation. “Tegoshi’s right. We let ourselves go too much. If we want to achieve something with this investigation, we should get back to work now.” He turned to Yuu who was still tied up with his cards and didn’t hear him apparently. “Yokyoyama-san?” Yuichi asked after a confused look at the cards. Yuu looked up. “Let’s go, we’ve work to do:”
“Yes, I’m sorry,” Yuu apologized for his evident absent-mindedness and started to collect his cards while ignoring the curious looks of the others. He apologized again with a slight bow and followed Yuichi out off the room. The others looked after him surprised.
“Didn’t I say that he’s strange?” Takahisa said in a conspiratorial tone after the door had closed behind Yuu.
“So he is a little strange then,” Yuya said and put an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Every human has his flaws and habits. Although I have to admit that he leaves a pretty unusual impression,” he added. “But we’re all open-minded people in here, aren’t we?” he grinned cheekily.
“True, but just now that was really strange,” Takahisa submitted.
“Well, be that as it may, before we get occupied with the abstruse character of our new colleague, we should follow Maru’s example and get back to work,” Jin ended the discussion. “I don’t want to pull an all-nighter and I’m sure the same goes for you. Besides, Kame hasn’t written our report yet.”
“Oi!” Kame protested. “It’s my first time hearing that. When did we decide that?”
“Just now,” Jin answered grinning and put his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “While you were tied up with Yokoyama, my conscience fought a hard but fair fight. It shortly looked like the outcome would be to your benefit, but in the end my lack of enthusiasm won.”
Kazuya rolled his eyes. “And what makes you think that my enthusiasm is greater than yours?”
“Instinct,” Jin replied carefree and pushed Kazuya, who wanted to protest again, towards the door.
Little later they said opposite from each other at their desks in the office. Tired Kazuya ran his fingers through his hair and eyed the monitor of his computer grumpily. “How come it’s always me who writes our reports?
Jin shrugged innocently. “Your wording is better than mine and you type considerably faster.”
“You would be just as fast if you would write a little more often.”
“Okay, okay, how’s that: I write the next one.”
Kazuya frowned.
“The next two… three… now come on!”
Kazuya laughed and gave up his morose expression. “Promise?”
“Promise.” Eagerly Jin held his little finger up over the table. Kazuya rolled his eyes, “I wouldn’t have needed it this official.” Nevertheless he reached for Jin’s finger to seal the promise. Inwardly he had to repress a loving smile, though. He loved this little playful and childlike side of Jin which sometimes showed up in situations like this.
Jin grinned. “And now you should hurry, the sooner we can go home and…itai,” he howled with pain when Kazuya twisted his finger. With a grin Kazuya turned back to his report.
While Kazuya kept on typing, Jin started to play merry-go-round with his swivel chair. Kazuya tried his best to ignore him even though the movements which he saw from the corner of his eyes distracted him. Several times he was forced to correct a just written sentence because he had made a mistake. But when Jin started to hum silently to himself, too, he had enough, “Jin!”
“Hmm?” Jin stopped the turning movement of his chair and looked expectantly at Kazuya.
“You’re getting on my nerves.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t you have something to do?”
Jin thought about it for a moment. Then he stood up sweepingly, “I make coffee.” Kazuya sighed.
For a while, he his work progressed smoothly while Jin was busy with the coffee machine at the door. When the coffee was ready, Jin filled a cup for each of them and placed both next to Kazuya on the table. Then he wrapped his arms around Kazuya’s neck from behind and peeked at the monitor. “Do you still need long?”
Kazuya took a sip of his coffee and nearly burned his tongue. “Itai. No, I’m nearly done.”
“Good.”
Kazuya wanted to continue writing when Jin started to place light kisses on his neck, starting from his ear down to his shoulder. All at once, Kazuya had again difficulties concentrating on his work. “Jin?”
“Hmm?” Jin murmured between two kisses.
“That’s not helping.”
“You think so?” Jin grinned and turned Kazuya’s chair around until Kazuya could look him in the face. “I think it helps me quite a lot.” He sat down on Kazuya lap and placed his hands on Kazuya’s neck. Then he brought his face close to Kazuya’s, only centimeters were separating them. “I’m bored.”
“You said I should write the report,” Kazuya said. “If you…” But he couldn’t end the sentence because Jin silenced him with a long and passionate kiss which Kazuya was more than willing to return. Jin’s hands wandered under his t-shirt. For one moment Kazuya completely forgot that they were still at work and gave himself up to Jin’s caress. But then he suddenly stopped. Unwillingly Jin let go of him and looked at him questioningly, “What?”
Kazuya nodded towards the door. Jin turned around. An unknown young man with fuzzy brown hair stood in the doorframe and looked at them with big eyes awkwardly. Jin sighed. “Can we help you?”
“Erm… Nakamaru-san sent me to get a file from his desk. Erm…,” his gaze wandered through the room. “Is that Nakamaru-san’s desk?” He pointed at the said desk. “Ah…I think, I see it…erm…excuse me,” he hurried over to the desk and grabbed the red file. Just as hurried he was back at the door again. “Sorry again.”
When he was gone, Kazuya and Jin looked at each other. Then Kazuya pushed Jin from his lap and turned back to his desk. “I should see that I finish this.” Jin nodded and returned to his desk. “You’re right.”
***
After Kazuya had finally finished the report, they managed to get home without mentioning the Joker, Taguchi or their current case - to Jin’s great relief. While writing Kazuya had uttered some thoughts about all that again which had let to another heated discussion. Then in the car Kazuya had looked as if he wanted to say something again a few times, but Jin had managed successfully to turn his attention to other subjects.
After dinner Kazuya suggested to watch the baseball game he had recorded a few days ago. To his surprise Jin agreed immediately. Kazuya had the suspicion that Jin would have said “yes” to everything as long as it would keep him - Kazuya - from thinking too much about the case. He chuckled. With Jin’s agreement nothing stood in the way of his plan. The baseball game was only the first step of Kazuya’s evening program. He knew Jin well enough to know that he wasn’t able to spend a whole baseball game silently next to him on the sofa. Normally he started to get bored only after a few minutes and that was exactly what Kazuya was aiming for. The baseball game was recorded after all. It wouldn’t run away.
They made themselves comfortable on the couch with beer and chips. Kazuya started the recorded game and took a handful of chips before he leaned back and snuggled up to the back of the couch.
As he had foreseen it, it didn’t take long until Jin showed the first signs of boredom. When he started to move closer inconspicuously after nary a quarter of an hour, Kazuya had to try hard to repress a grin. Sometimes Jin was so foreseeable! Apparently without noticing anything Kazuya reached out and took some more chips from the bowl on the couch table. His eyes were fixed on the screen. Of course he could have turned to Jin and admit that tonight wasn’t about the baseball game, but why spoil all the fun? Jin was too cute when he wanted attention.
When he had reduced the distance between them to a minimum, Jin turned to Kazuya and wrapped an arm around his waist. Although Kazuya willingly gave way to Jin’s arm, he still concentrated on watching the game. Jin rested his chin on Kazuya’s shoulder and like that they sat for a while following the game.
“Interesting game,” Jin commented after another moment, his head still on Kazuya’s shoulder. Kazuya nearly burst with laughter, but managed to disguise it as a cough. Worried Jin lifted his head to look at him. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m okay. Just choked on a chip,” Kazuya gasped still coughing. Jin passed him his beer and Kazuya took a sip before he leaned back again. “Admit it, you don’t even know which team is currently winning, do you?” he couldn’t resist to ask.
“The one’s in the white tricot?”
Kazuya laughed. “Well guessed.”
“Who says I had to guess?”
Kazuya threw a knowing look at him from the side. A little offended Jin turned back to the screen and rested his head on Kazuya’s shoulder again.
A few more minutes passed in which they watched the game silently, but Jin couldn’t hold out for long again. This time he started to place kisses on Kazuya’s shoulder. When Kazuya didn’t show any reaction, he climbed on his lap and engaged him in a long and passionate kiss which Kazuya returned more than willingly - at least for some time. Jin’s hand wandered under Kazuya’s t-shirt and stroked his chest. The first kiss was followed by a second one. They only parted long enough to breath and when Jin’s hand finally found its way in Kazuya’s jeans, Kazuya felt that he was slowly but surely losing the control over the situation - not that it really bothered him, it just felt too good for that - but he couldn’t resist a last comment, “Jin?” he mumbled unclearly in between two kisses. The name was almost lost in a repressed moan.
“Hmm?” Jin let go off Kazuya’s mouth and kissed a way from his left ear down to his neck until the neckline of Kazuya’s t-shirt stopped him. His mouth returned to Kazuya’s while his hands stayed in Kazuya’s jeans.
“I can’t see anything,” Kazuya complained although he didn’t manage to put the necessary reprimand in his voice.
Jin let go of him shortly and grinned. “You don’t have to. Just close your eyes and…”
“I was speaking about the game. You’re covering… the screen.”
“Mhmm.” Jin pulled his hand out of Kazuya’s pants, but only to have two hands free for taking off Kazuya’s t-shirt. Kazuya gave him free rain and with that the baseball game was finally forgotten for this evening once and for all.
To be continued...
So, that was it for the sixth chapter. I hope you'll liked it. We're as always happy about comments :)