Cop Craft – Dragnet Mirage Reloaded

The person Tilarna had agreed to have lunch with was the head of the autopsy department, Cecil Epps.

The two met in front of the HQ building, and headed towards “Daikatana”, a Japanese restaurant on a small street about two blocks away.

「I’ll have a cream soba bowl, a natto ginger pudding and a miso cocoa.」 「I’ll have the fried sushi sandwich and the soy coffee, please.」

They each ordered. Incidentally, for some reason this was a restaurant that Matoba hated with a passion, but the two of them didn’t really understand why. The waitresses were dressed like ninjas, and would say “Domo arígato”, bow their heads and head back to the galley after taking the customers’ orders.

「It’s pretty strange for you to be inviting me out」

Said Cecil, as her short bob cut hair waved in the air.

「Ah sorry, did I bother you?」 「No, it’s kind of flattering. I don’t really have many Semanian friends to begin with. And I really like you.」 「I see. It is an honor for me as well.」 「You’re welcome. So? Are you having troubles with something?」

Cecil’s eyes were glittering with curiosity. She was about ten years older than Tilarna in Earth’s age. She could probably provide some insight she would have overlooked otherwise.

「No, I wouldn’t go so far to call it trouble but more like…」 「Is it about Kei?」

Cecil laughed as Tilarna’s face clearly showed that she had hit the nail on the head.

「You don’t have to act so surprised」 「It’s not that I’m surprised. It’s just that, well… no. It’s just as you said, Cecil. I cannot understand that person no matter what. And I figured that, since you’re a trustworthy close friend of his, maybe you had some good information that you could share with me.」 「Oh, I see. Did he tell you that I was a “trustworthy close friend of his”?」 「You aren’t?」 「Well… it’s not like he’s totally mistaken or anything.」 「Oh, alright.」 「… So, you don’t understand his feelings, right? Did something bad or sour happen?」 「Not particularly. Well… if I had to say, though, this has happened recently.」

Tilarna told Cecil about her recent interactions with Matoba. About how despite being his partner at work, he still won’t rely on her one bit. About how she ended up destroying his beloved car, and how when he openly rejected the idea of her staying with him any longer, after the search for an apartment had failed.

「Wai— wait a minute… are you two living together?」 「Yes. A lot happened, and I ended up relying on his kindness.」

Tilarna summed up all the details of the events that had taken place since she first arrived in San Teresa City.

How the consulate wouldn’t help her at all, and no hotels would accept her, and how eventually Matoba had to take her in and give her a place to live. After telling her all the details, Cecil nodded, almost as if she were consenting to the story.

「Ah I see. I was thinking that he had behaving all fidgety around me recently.」 「Really?」 「Yeah. He’s an idiot. Don’t worry about him.」

Cecil smiled gently, looking like she had remembered something nostalgic from a distant past.

「What do you mean?」 「Ah… I don’t think he’d mind if I told you this. It doesn’t even look like you have that kind of relationship, anyways. And it would be particularly inconvenient if we had to hide it.」 「?」 「Kei and I used to be a couple.」 「Wha…」

Tilarna was surprised at how surprised she felt. For some reason now she saw Cecil’s smile in a completely different light all of a sudden. What was this feeling? Was it alertness? Why did she suddenly feel threatened? Cecil was a good person, and she was a trustworthy, fine woman.

So Cecil and Kei used to be lovers?

She never noticed. She did think they looked like a former couple at times, but usually dismissed it as just an impression and nothing serious. Thinking back of all the interactions she had seen of them, they were mostly casual lighthearted exchanges, so she never really got the impression that they were anything more than friends.

「Are you surprised?」 「N— No… not at all…」 「Oh come on. I told you the truth already, so you could at least be honest with me as well.」 「You’re right, I’m sorry. To be honest I am surprised.」

Cecil laughed loudly at her blunt honesty

「You’re a really fun girl, Tilarna. I’m growing to like you more and more.」 「You’re flattering me but… I don’t really understand where you’re going with this. I wasn’t… I wasn’t really talking about relationships between men and women to begin with…」

For some reason her face started growing hot, and she couldn’t force herself to look Cecil in the eye, instead focusing all her attention on a specific spot on the table. She could feel her back getting moist with sweat. Why was she freaking out? She didn’t even understand it herself.

「That’s fine. He is a man, and you are a woman. And sometimes it’s really hard to clear stuff up with macho types like him.」 「Ma— Macho…?」 「That’s right. Just listening to you, I think I get the gist of it already. I’m sure you’ve been meaning to ask him what he thinks of you as a partner, right?」 「Yes. Exactly.」 「If that’s what you want to know, then you shouldn’t worry about it. Kei has absolutely no mercy with people he really hates, or people he doesn’t trust at all. If he absolutely didn’t want to work with you, then he would go straight to the boss and ask for a different partner, or even ask for a different position. He’s that influential.」 「Influential?」 「Or rather, I think that’s just because he’s part of the military’s devil squad, so he’s an incredibly valuable asset for them. If he weren’t there, that entire Vice department’s backbone would collapse upon itself. Which is why, if he really wanted to drive you away, he could even have you sent back to Semani. But he won’t do that, and I think that’s because very deep within his heart, he really does believe in you.」 「Hm…」

She couldn’t figure out his feelings whatsoever. She wouldn’t just be able to accept that such a sarcastic and rude man had actually believed in her all along.

「To be honest, I think you’ve saved his life several times already. And mine as well.」

Cecil said smiling.

「And I think that he definitely sees you as a necessary ally because of your deep knowledge of Semanian culture. However, he’s completely incompetent at voicing his own feelings, so… I think that’s truly his biggest flaw… which is why in the end he’s having you go through all kinds of hardship.」 「So that’s the deal with him…?」 「You don’t look too convinced. Are you sure you weren’t expecting something else?」 「No, not really. I think I get it now. I have to thank you for this.」

Cecil looked at her getting flustered and quickly denying her question, and then thought for a bit about something.

「So, I think that in the end the problem wasn’t really about work, huh?」 「What do you mean?」 「I mean, I think you like Kei, don’t you? Personally, as a man. I wouldn’t go as far to say that you loved him, but nobody wants to spend time together with a man they hate. Which is exactly why it makes you feel so troubled and sad when he behaves like that around you.」 「Tha… that’s…」

Tilarna was left speechless after Cecil stopped beating around the bush and asked her directly

「You don’t have to think so hard about it. Do you hate Kei?」 「No. I wouldn’t say I particularly hate him…」 「Well, there you have it. You have to accept the fact that you like him first.」 「Bu, but even if you say that… li-li-like isn’t really a word I would use either.」

She was trying to deny it with all her might, as her mind kept racing. It was true that she didn’t hate Matoba. However, she also didn’t feel like telling him she “loved him” or that she “wanted to spend the rest of her life with him”. Tilarna had never felt that way about anyone herself, so just thinking about it confused her.

But she wanted him to notice her. Which was why she had bothered to remember how to drive that nasty car of his. But her attempt to “move it herself” after that big car chase had resulted in a catastrophic failure. And she knew that the shock to him was similar to the shock she would get if something ever happened to her own Krége.

「That’s right. Looking at you both from a distance, I think you’re kind of like a big brother and younger sister.」 「Brother and sister?」 「Yes. The love between two detective partners isn’t necessarily a romantic or lustful one, but at times resembles the strong bond of a brother and sister… Yeah, I think that’s it, it must be that.」

Cecil seemed to remember something by herself, and then nodded on her own

「Tilarna. Please don’t tell him I told you any of this.」 「? Sure」 「Kei lost his younger sister about ten years ago, right here in San Teresa City. Back when he was part of the military in Semani, they had planned to meet each other, but then she was shot by some junkie.」 「……」 「I don’t remember if it was Kendo or Karate but… she was a healthy girl that used to practice one of those sports. I wonder if perhaps one of the reasons he became an officer in this city was his sister. I think maybe you remind him of his younger sister on some subconscious level or something like that.」

Tilarna heard Matoba’s story, and then immediately an image of her own older brother appeared in her head.

He was already gone. He had been drafted for some armed conflict that wasn’t even a full out war, and his death cleared her family’s name. The last she remembered of him was him smiling back at her dressed in a silver plated armor.

「I had never heard about that…」 「Yeah, I’m sure you haven't. He only told me about it once.」

At that moment, the waitress came in with their dishes.

The cream soba bowl that Tilarna had ordered consisted of a bed of rice with cream sauce smeared on top, along with soba noodles. The natto ginger pudding was as the name implied, a pudding of natto and ginger mixed together. Cecil’s fried sushi sandwich was shrimp sushi surrounded by bread and lettuce. Incidentally, Matoba had once referred to this restaurant’s menu as “a total blasphemy” and said that they “should apologize to the farmers who harvested the food”.

After eating almost half of her bowl with a fork and spoon, Tilarna asked Cecil

「Cecil. You said you were together with Kei, right?」 「That’s right.」 「So does that mean… you’re not close like that anymore? I mean… does it bother you that I’m living with him right now?」 「Hm… well… I hadn’t thought about it…」

Cecil smiled mysteriously and then took a bite of her sushi sandwich in front of her.