Chapter 12: Epilogue
IN a police station in a certain provincial town, within the Criminal Affairs Division. Ren, who had two years prior fulfilled his biggest dream—becoming a detective—tapped the report he had been working on against his desk to straighten the papers in one pile. Not that he had any particular reason for it, but he had wanted to become a detective for the longest time. However, real life, unlike his dreams, had been harsh, and it had taken him six whole years from starting as a beat cop to achieve his ambition. Even so, he was on the luckier side compared to many of his peers.
Now, after having worked as a detective for two years, what he had realized about the job was that it involved a lot more paperwork than he had expected, and that about eighty percent of it was patience and hard work away from the spotlight. Not to mention, that he now had a lot less vacation than during his beat cop days, and that taking all of his vacation days at once was frowned upon.
Ah, I’m really not making it easy on her, huh? Ren let out a small chuckle.
Having finished all the tasks requiring his immediate attention, Ren stretched his arms out over his head, rolled his shoulders, then opened his bag and took his lunch box out. Conveniently, lunch break had just begun. Ren’s stomach growled, drawing attention to the fact that it was empty and starving for some food. What would it be today? He always looked forward to unpacking his lunch box to discover what was inside. Amid all of the brownnosing he had to do for work, inevitably landing him in a bloodthirsty mood, eating his packed lunch was one of the few ways he could find peace again.
When he slid the lid off, his eyes were immediately greeted by a plethora of colorful side dishes. In a small drawstring pouch, an assortment of three kinds of onigiri lay snuggled next to each other, the fillings invariably pickled plum, cod roe, and salmon. Apparently, those were the top three best rice ball fillings of all-time according to her.
In the beginning, she couldn’t make a single dish right, but in the four years of them dating her cooking skills showed impressive growth. …Well, at least that was what she believed, anyway. The slightly burnt omelet was savory to taste. She properly flavored it with both soy sauce and mirin, but going a bit heavy on the soy sauce was how she preferred it.
The main dish was yesterday’s leftover Salisbury steak. She must’ve made a smaller sized one for the lunch box. Either the grind was too coarse, or the pieces of onion too big in comparison with the patty size, but when he stabbed a chopstick into it, it crumbled apart miserably. It tasted really good. The fact that it made him laugh inadvertently was the cherry on top.
“Dang it, seeing you smile like a fool while eating the lunch your wife lovingly made you really ticks me off!” A groan came from behind Ren’s back.
Before Ren could whip around, a hand extended towards his lunch box, nimbly plucking a stalk of asparagus wrapped in bacon from it. When he did turn around, he saw a senior detective chewing on the snack.
“…Isn’t the asparagus a bit chewy?”
“She says she likes it like that.”
Indeed, the bacon asparagus roll-ups she made were a tiny bit tough. Otherwise, they were properly made, and it didn’t make them inedible. They were pretty yummy in fact, so he guessed he shouldn’t complain.
“Ah… Guess I’d better get started on my lunch too…”
His colleague, seated at the desk next to his, rummaged around in his bag from within the depths of which he produced a cup of instant noodles. To it, he added the flavoring and the powdered soup stock, and then stepped out of the office to boil some water. Ren continued eating the contents of his lunch box, and by the time his colleague returned, he was biting into one of the rice balls.
Her onigiri always scored a perfect ten. The amount of salt was absolutely perfect, so much so they would taste great even without any filling. As he was savoring the taste, the office door creaked open again and another one of his fellow detectives entered the room, muttering, “Ugh, I’m beat!”
“Ah, finished the interrogation already?”
“Yeah. I mostly stood on the sidelines, watching a senior officer do it though.”
That alone must’ve been mentally draining, because the man heaved a huge sigh before plopping down at his desk which stood back to back with Ren’s. He took out his store-bought lunch box. Snapping his chopsticks open, he piped up again, as if reminded of something, “Ah, by the way, I saw your wife on my patrol route!”
“You lucky dog, scoring such a young wife! She’s what, ten years younger than you?”
“Nine, actually,” Ren mumbled curtly.
Not that he minded it much. Nine wasn’t much different than ten, but hearing their age difference being amped up to double digits just rubbed him the wrong way. Working in the same place as his wife was an inexhaustible source of teasing. He was looking forward to the day it became old news.
Now’s the time for patience, Ren shrugged mentally when the door opened, just in time for him to throw the last piece of his onigiri in his mouth. …It was Subaru.
“Ren, have you finished your report? Oh, I see you’re done with your lunch too. Perfect timing! We’re about to conduct a door-to-door investigation, but we’re short on manpower, so if you would join us?”
“Yes, sir!” Ren swiftly put away his lunch box and ran out the door to catch up to Subaru who had already gone ahead.
Subaru had been promoted to detective two years before him. He was really glad to have a senior who really had his back. Subaru was bringing him along on a lot of his cases, which was an excellent learning opportunity for Ren.
While the two of them were heading to the parking lot, Subaru uttered a short question, “When is she quitting?”
“Huh? Ah, the job. Next month. She keeps saying she wants to work until she really can’t anymore, but it’s our first child, you know? She’s having a bad case of morning sickness, too. I can’t help it, I’m just too worried about her.”
Subaru scratched his head and smiled, turning to look at Ren over his shoulder. “Ever the worrier, aren’t you?”
“I know! I used to think I’m a very chill guy, but when it comes to her, I’m hopeless. In fact, I’m worried about her even now, right this very moment.”
Subaru chuckled, and when they finally reached the parking lot, he fished his keys out of his pocket and tossed them over to Ren. Ren nimbly caught them and hopped into the driver’s seat.
“Well, that’s only natural, I suppose. The more precious someone is to you, the more you fret over them.”
“Guess you’re right. Well then, let’s get to it!” Ren exclaimed. He confirmed that Subaru, sitting next to him in the front, had fastened his seat belt, and revved the engine.