The Hero Next Time: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 4)

Chapter Sixteen: Lauren, Monday

"I can't believe you still have yours," Rachel said in amazement as Lauren framed the certificate and hung it up on the wall of her office. 

"I do," she said, "but it was stored away, and I lost track of it until I was cleaning out the storage room; I was moving stuff around to make room for you and your family, and I came across a box that held old memorabilia. I felt a little nostalgic, you know, since Joe moved out, so I thought I'd have a look through it, and there this was." She stood back and made sure the framed certificate was level. "My mom and dad saved it, of course. Dad was so proud of his Little Samurai. It was why he gave me the sword as a wedding gift."

"Yes, you've said." Rachel leaned in and read, "Here on this fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen seventy-nine..." Rachel chuckled. "They used such flowery language back then. Year of our Lord?"

"Back when the world was still Christian, at least to the people who made the rules."

"The City of New Westminster presents this commendation to... and here there's lots of space around the name because this is a boilerplate document..." Rachel leaned in, read the next part, then turned to her, mouth open in amazement. "Lauren Keiko Hasegawa?"

Lauren shrugged. "Yeah, okay, I have a middle name. So?"

"I love it!" Rachel shrieked. "You never told me you had a middle name, and a Japanese one at that!"

"I didn't tell you, but you must have seen it when we were all comparing certificates on the day we got them. It didn't just suddenly appear today."

Rachel's smile wavered as she thought back to that time. "Yeah, I guess I must have, but I forgot. Maybe I was too excited about my own certificate to notice."

"My parents wanted me to have one name from each culture, to present me as the modern child who straddles both with grace and confidence. Except I've never even visited the Nikkei Centre in all the years it's been there, so I haven't been honouring my Japanese side very well."

Rachel stepped forward and put her hands on Lauren's shoulders. "I'm going to call you Keiko from now on."

Lauren chuckled and threw off her hands. "Fuck off. You do that and you get no more nookie from me. I'm not your Asian stereotype."

Rachel pouted. "Fine. But you know I'm telling Al."

Lauren shrugged. "Tell whoever you want. It's not like I was hiding it, it just never crossed my mind to tell you." Wasn't she hiding it, though? Lauren thought about it a moment. Subconsciously, maybe? She really had to visit the Nikkei and soak up some culture. She had Regan Nakamura's card somewhere; she should call her and schedule a visit together with her family. Joe said he would go too... "What about you? Do you have a middle name?"

"Nope."

"What happened to your certificate?"

"I bet my mom threw it out. She didn't even come to the ceremony, because she couldn't stand the idea of me getting a reward for doing something she told me not to do."

Lauren held her index finger and thumb up, rubbing them together. "Smallest violin. This story is old news."

Rachel gasped in indignation. "Nice! No sympathy from my best friend?" She held herself back from saying and lover because Lauren's office door was open.

"Why didn't you put it in your box with your dad's notes and Al's love letter if you wanted so much to keep it?" Lauren asked.

Rachel chuckled and said, "It wasn't a love letter, just a Valentine's card with a poem on it." She sighed. "You're right. I should have kept it. I was so proud, even if I didn't really do anything myself."