Just a normal day in Autumn, when the weather gradually decreased. Akiyama Suzuki remembered that the temperature of 15 degrees Celsius was written on her smartphone. The precinct where she worked was quiet on this specific date, as it should have been for a small town in the middle of nowhere. For the past months, major shocking incidents had occurred one after another. It placed a tremendous amount of pressure on the police force to tackle, investigate, and solve the crimes. Without much success, the police managed to resolve half of the incidents despite their relentless efforts.

  The series of tragic incidents, such as the Fire Festival, Jinzo's human trafficking syndicate, the Seihei massacre, the prisoner transport crash, the Yamamoto case, etc., were seemingly uncorrelated. However, Suzuki had a hunch that they might be. Some instances had a clear connection between cases, while others were vague or seemingly nonexistent.

  Suzuki stood in front of a large billboard inside the police meeting room, where she recreated a web map showing each event and major clues in each one, as well as their relationships. It was what she'd been diligently working on for the past month by herself while maintaining her usual duty as a policewoman.

  “For example, the live stream service that Kasunagi Nabe used was from one of Jinzo's outlets… How coincidental was it?” The elegant policewoman whispered while resting her chin on her fingers.

  After her multiple rounds of scrutiny of the cases, Suzuki hadn't come close to seeing the big picture. There were always missing clues, pictures, and evidence.

  “There was something big going on behind the closed curtain… To think objectively, assume there is a highly influential body at play…” Suzuki was lost in her thoughts, trying to link them. She pasted a post-it of the unknown presence with a question mark on it to the very top of the board.

  “Imagine, Suzuki, if you are that presence which can obscure the police force, who would it be?”

  “Start from the fire ceremony… Something that could prevent the police from investigating… The abbot of Kagehiro-jinja.”

  “Aoyama… Ozai…” Suzuki unconsciously read the name of the abbot aloud.

  “On top of all this, there were multiple reports of people showing symptoms of a rabies-like state, including aggression, incoherent speech, foaming at the mouth… All of them were thoroughly examined by doctors, and all the results were negative… It can’t be rabies since those people would become very thirsty for water. That’s the complete opposite of rabies, right?” She analyzed while looking at the other reports. “Is it related to the massacre somehow? Those Seihei attackers were overhydrated too since we found a low sodium level postmortem…”

  “Does it have something to do with the public utility like the town’s water supply?”

  After a peaceful day of policing, Akiyama Suzuki arrived at her place at 5:32 PM. There was still evening light at the time. She admitted that she agreed with senior Nagoya, who had been lecturing her on going home when she was supposed to. She didn't understand then why he would suggest something worthless like that. She couldn't comprehend the need then because she didn't have anyone to go back to. However, that thought changed when she had Shouichi waiting for her return. It made her heart bloom like a vibrant flower even in the cold air of Autumn.

  She understood then that life had much more outside of work, and she would be able to experience it fully with the man she loved.

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  Suzuki gently hovered her key card over the doorknob, and an electric bell buzzed to her.

  “I'm home!” She announced like usual. She imagined Shouichi would be running out to greet her by now.

  Unexpectedly, there was no response. Her apartment turned out to be empty, devoid of her partner.

  With her heart elevated, she yelled, “Shouichi-kun?” She hurriedly checked the bathroom on the left — empty.

  “Are you sleeping? Shouichi-kun?” Her face drained of blood. She headed to her bedroom and found an empty bed.

  “Oh, no! Where did he go?” Suzuki panicked, walking in circles like a lunatic.

  “What should I do? What should I do?” She kept repeating her words as sweat washed down her face. Using her shivering hands, she began to call for his smartphone, but there was no connection made.

  “What am I thinking? Shouichi-kun doesn’t have a phone with him.”

  When complete fear and anxiety had taken over her, Suzuki chugged a big gulp of water to calm herself down.

  “Is he leaving? Maybe he's back at his place. Why didn’t he tell me anything?” She attempted to rationalise.

  "Or... is it that girl, Ayane-chan?!" she muttered through gritted teeth, frustration simmering at the mere thought. Despite her ragged breathing and the tears welling beneath her dark eyes, she forced herself to take a deep breath, standing up tall and resolute.

  “He couldn’t have gone far, I can find him…”

  Instantly, the front door opened by itself. “I'm home!” It’s Shouichi’s voice, then poking his smiling face from the gap.

  “...Oh! You are here early today, Suzuki-san,” He greeted her gleefully before noticing her grim expression. “What’s wrong, Suzuki-san?”

  The lady rushed to wrap her arms around him tightly. “I~I thought I lost you… Sob*” She spoke with a shaking voice.

  “Huh? I just went home to grab a few things,” Shouichi replied cluelessly, stroking his hands on her back to comfort the frightened lady. “Did I worry you? Sorry, sorry.”

  The tearful lady sniffed a few times before giving him a nod.

  “Please don’t scare me like that again,” Suzuki stared at him pleadingly with her beautiful dark irises.

  “Mm!” He hummed in response.

  “So what did you get?” Suzuki led him toward the sofa, not letting go of his hand.

  “Oh right! It's my school uniform and my smartphone.” Shouichi sat down after her and showed her a black duffel he was carrying.

  For a brief moment, after Shouichi ensured that Suzuki gathered herself up, he giggled and added, “Hahaha, I didn't think I'd make you cry… Because I didn't think of you as an overly attached type, Suzuki-san.”

  “...Of course, I am one! You always do things without telling me,” She sniffed between words, rubbing her damp eyelids.

  “I deeply apologise for that,” He bowed sarcastically.

  “Hummpt!” Suzuki pretended to be angry but unconvincingly, so Shouichi just grinned.

  “I think about what you said back then… So I’ve decided that I'm going back to school again,” He announced proudly.

  Suzuki's face lit up after hearing the fantastic news. “Wow! Really?!” She exclaimed while simultaneously rocking Shouichi's shoulders.

  “Yep!” The boy nodded, genuine determination sparked in his brown eyes.

  “I’m so happy… That you would do that for me,” Suzuki told him, tears of joy seeping from her beautiful eyes.

  “Please! Please don’t cry, Suzuki-san!” Shouichi handed her a box of tissue papers.

  “Sob... I don’t know why I’m getting super dramatic all of a sudden.” She replied while blowing her nose.

  “...To be completely honest with you, I’m a bit embarrassed to go back.” He scratched his brows with uneasiness.

  “Shouichi-kun! You can do it! I’ll be cheering you on!” A barrage of encouragement kept spawning from her mouth. It eased up his wavering heart.

  “Thanks, Suzuki-san. I’ll try my best!” He gave her an oath of sorts with a gentle smile.

  “Good boy!” The enchanting lady leaned in to kiss him tenderly on the lips, softly gasping hot, satisfying air. “S~should I take a bath first? I’m kind of sweaty right now.” She nervously asked the man, blushing heatedly.

  “I don’t mind that at all, I love your uniforms,” Shouichi replied with a hot-iron face.

  “Eh?!” She exclaimed in surprise as her mind never registered him as a man with this fetish before. “Oh… He did buy that one kinky AV with the policewoman in it…” She recalled the time she supposedly supervised him.

  Subsequently, Shouichi gently caressed her rosy cheeks before pressing his lips to her delicate neck. His touch, like an alluring flame dancing on her porcelain skin, promised a journey to a realm of pure ecstasy — reaching the height of euphoria. And from that moment on, the rest was history.