The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 6

Lunch break was almost half over, and the Mobile Unit officers who had finished their meals were returning to the office in small groups.

Kenji Hagiwara hadn’t gone to lunch. He was hiding in his office, on the phone with Jinpei Matsuda, complaining nonstop for seven minutes.

Jinpei, who had also been promoted to a Mobile Unit captain, had the day off and was sitting lazily on his dorm balcony, soaking up the sun. He used his pinky to clean his ear. “Hagi, you sound like a dumped husband who’s been used and tossed aside by a woman.”

A long silence followed on the other end of the phone before Kenji’s wounded voice broke through. “Jinpei-kun, how could you? What about our childhood friendship? I really want to tie you up, package you, and throw you at Rei Furuya so he can beat you up.”

Jinpei “tch-ed” dismissively. “Do you think we’re still seven years ago, back in the academy? Rei and I don’t fight over stuff like that anymore.”

“But he’d definitely be happy to participate in any activity that involves beating you up.”

“Tsk, just get a hold of yourself. Now that you know where she is, why don’t you just go for it?”

“I am going to go for it, but Furuya-kun told me to wait for him to contact me. I don’t dare call him without permission.”

“Go find him at the bar?”

“I called and asked. He’s off today. Other bartenders are on duty.”

“So, what are you going to do about Tanaka?”

Kenji’s eyelids were half-closed, a gray shadow over his beautiful purple eyes. He rubbed his forehead, enduring the discomfort in his stomach, and stood up. “I’m not going to just let this go. I’ve been planning this for so long. I’m not giving up.”

But before that, he needed to go to the vending machine at the end of the hall and buy two instant meals to fill his empty stomach.

However, just as Kenji opened his office door, he was caught off guard by Tanaka’s spirited voice. “I’m going to go find Miyamoto right now! I’m going to get her number! You guys just wait for good news!”

Half of Kenji’s body was already out the door. He froze, looked back at his subordinates chatting excitedly on the other side of the office, was silent for a moment, and then turned and scrambled back into his office as if he were escaping.

Through the phone, Jinpei also heard what Tanaka said. He couldn’t help but ask, “Hagi, are you okay?”

After a long, anxious silence, Kenji’s voice came through, heavy and low. “Jinpei.”

Kenji was in a terrible mood. He couldn’t even use his usual playful tone to call him “Jinpei-kun.”

Kenji said, “I actually had a vague idea that Lin Jianyue might be able to enter this world. I even instigated the whole thing.”

“But she hasn’t appeared, whether in dreams or in reality. This feeling of being out of control is making me more and more anxious. It’s making me doubt my own judgment. Thank God Zero called me and gave me a clear answer.”

“…You instigated it?”

A sigh, and then Kenji’s tired voice. “I’ll explain later. I’m a little tired right now. I just want to be alone.”

Jinpei was silent for a moment, not pushing him. “Alright. You can call me anytime.”

After the call ended, a heavy silence filled the large office.

A thin door, a wall, and a cubicle separated Kenji Hagiwara from his subordinates, who were cheering on Tanaka outside. One side was bustling with noise, the other was empty and lonely.

The people outside kept yelling for Tanaka to go call Yumi Miyamoto and use her to get the girl to come out. Their laughter seeped through the open window and into Kenji’s ears, making him inexplicably agitated.

Kenji thought for a moment and was about to send a message to Yumi when a notification from her suddenly popped up on his phone:

Sorry, Tanaka-kun, she said. She’s going to a premiere tonight and can’t accept your invitation.

“Message unsent.”

Sorry, Officer Hagiwara, I replied to the wrong person.

At 8:30 p.m., a light, damp rain began to fall.

Raindrops pattered down, creating dark, uneven spots on his black suit jacket.

Most of Kenji’s clothes were bright and tasteful, once joked about by Jinpei as being stylish enough to be on the cover of a men’s fashion magazine.

But six months ago, Kenji had spent a small fortune on a custom-made, slightly dull and monotonous black suit, styled after the one on the doll.

The suit had been hanging in the deepest part of his closet until today, the first time he had ever worn it.

His hair was wet from the rain. Kenji didn’t have an umbrella, so he ducked into a 24-hour convenience store.

He bought a box of leftover instant food with some ice on it, sat by the window, and stared blankly at the people through the rain-streaked glass.

Couples passed by, sharing an umbrella, their arms linked as they laughed and smiled.

The rice, which had been simply heated in the microwave, was mushy, and the vegetables had lost their moisture from the freezing.

Kenji ate a few bites before losing his appetite, even though his stomach was still rumbling.

Before he left work in the afternoon, Kenji had asked Yumi Miyamoto for information about Lin Jianyue. But she had just teased him, told him he had to go to the mixer next time, and hung up.

The bad news was that he hadn’t gotten any useful information from Yumi.

The good news was that Tanaka hadn’t either.

Yumi had rejected them both equally.

The woman who usually couldn’t keep her mouth shut and would tell everyone everything had shown the kind of confidentiality a police officer should have when it came to a woman’s privacy.

The heavy rain didn’t stop. Kenji rested his chin on his hand, staring blankly at the street blurred by the curtain of rain.

Kenji had looked it up. There were three movie premieres in Tokyo today, all at different locations and starting at different times.

He had turned down Jinpei’s dinner invitation and had been running around like a special agent, but after a few hours, all he had to show for it was a traffic ticket.

The rain slowed down, ending after only half an hour. Kenji checked the time and left the convenience store.

The sun had completely set, and the street, washed by the rain, was still bustling. Puddles on the side of the road reflected Kenji’s hurried figure as the cold air crept up his sleeves. He called Yumi Miyamoto, but all he heard was a busy signal. The female officer had probably gone drinking again.

A feeling of discomfort, like a pot of water slowly coming to a boil, started to churn in his stomach. Kenji frowned, forcing down a sharp feeling of hunger, and called Jinpei. “Are you off tomorrow? Come drink with me.”

“Are you insane?” Jinpei’s voice was a bit higher than usual. “I’m not working, but you are on duty tomorrow. Drinking? Tonight?”

“Yeah. I haven’t eaten since this afternoon.”

“Aren’t you worried about an emergency tomorrow?”

“I’ll eat. You can drink for me.”

…What a psycho.

Jinpei silently cursed a few times, then changed the subject. “I saw you went back to your dorm to change after work. I thought you were going on a date.”

“It’s not a date, but I did plan to surprise Jianyue.”

Jinpei was surprised. “You know where she is?”

“No.”

“But she was going to a premiere today.”

Jinpei instantly understood what Kenji meant. The guy must have been staking out every single location. Jinpei couldn’t help but comment. “Hagi, you’re acting like a creepy ghost.”

Jinpei expected Kenji to draw out his words in a long-winded defense, trade a few insults with him, and then give him the name of an izakaya to meet at. But the phone went completely silent. Even the crisp sound of his leather shoes on the pavement disappeared. All that was left was the sound of cars passing in the background.

The sudden, eerie silence made Jinpei’s smile falter. “Sorry, Hagi. I shouldn’t have joked about that.”

Kenji didn’t respond.

Just as Jinpei was trying to figure out how to apologize, Kenji’s voice came through. He was gritting his teeth, squeezing out three words: “I found her.”

“Huh?”

“I found Lin Jianyue.”

The sound of his footsteps started up again, along with Kenji’s increasingly heavy breathing, barely holding back his anger. He stared at Lin Jianyue on the other side of the street, her arm linked with a man’s, his eyes wide with rage.

The moonlight cast a soft glow on Lin Jianyue’s face. The way she was looking at the man next to her was no different from how she had looked at Kenji in his dreams. The man seemed to say something that made Lin Jianyue lower her head. The smile on her face made Kenji’s eyes hurt.

“You won’t believe what I’m seeing. Damn it! Lin Jianyue is on a date with someone on the other side of the street.” Kenji squeezed his phone tightly, veins popping out on his hand. His back teeth ground together.

“Hagi, calm down. It might be a misunderstanding. Just—”

Before Jinpei could find the right words to comfort him, the situation on the other end of the line changed drastically.

Kenji saw the man on the other side of the street suddenly cup Lin Jianyue’s face and lean in toward her with a look of deep affection.

The moment he saw Lin Jianyue close her eyes in response, Kenji’s mind went blank, all logic lost.

His jaw muscles twitched twice. He jumped over the guardrail on the side of the road and ran straight into the main street without a crosswalk. Amidst a screech of brakes, he sprinted toward Lin Jianyue.