Last Name

Chapter 14.

After the events that transpired with Imai right outside of the hospital, Daichi, Superintendent-General Sugiyama, and Inspector Giichi had to have a meeting the next day at TMPD headquarters with other officials to get a handle on the situation. Daichi wasn't willing to leave Nori for another moment, but there was no way around it as they couldn't wait to address the situation. Since the standoff had happened in such a public location, the press had easily gotten a wind of it and were already running wild with the stories. Daichi was only convinced of attending the meeting after Kuroo had suggested Nori be transferred into his room since Suga had completely recovered and was discharged. Therefore, on the day of the meeting, after having surgery on her ankle in the morning, Nori was scheduled to be moved into Kuroo's room. Mrs. Sugiyama had also made it in by now, so her being there with Nori was also a comfort for Daichi while he was away for the few hours.

Daichi was sitting at a long table with nine other officials in one of the conference rooms at the precinct. He was having trouble focusing on the conversation in front of him as his thoughts kept going back to Nori and wondering if she was awake yet. After the incident with Imai yesterday, Nori had become anxious and had difficulty calming down. At the suggestion of the doctors, they had sedated her to better help her recover and so she had slept through the rest of the day and night. This morning, she had been taken in for surgery on her ankle while Daichi was forced to come here. He glanced at his watch. The surgery should be done, and they probably had brought her back to the room. All he wanted to do was go back and be there when she woke up. He had yet to have a proper conversation with her ever since this entire ordeal had started.

"How did you end up at the hospital, Inspector Giichi?" Daichi heard one of the officials ask, snapping him back to reality.

"I was on my way to confront Imai. I had an inkling about him from the beginning, but I wasn't sure. Once I came back to the precinct after finding Mrs. Sawamura at the hotel, that's when my suspicion was turned into a confirmation," Giichi stoically replied.

"What!? You suspected him from the beginning!?" Daichi exclaimed in disbelief, turning to look at the man who he had spent the last few days despising but now owed Nori's life to.

"Well...yes. Ever since the interrogation with you, actually. I'm sure you're aware, but a lot of the questions I was asking you, I was looking for certain emotional responses that would suggest you as the guilty party. Your reactions were appropriate, and I immediately knew you weren't involved. What I didn't expect to catch were Imai's reactions. The way he tensed up when I said Mrs. Sawamura was pregnant...how he almost slipped calling her by her first name...when he became extremely defensive of her when I insinuated certain things, it caught my attention. Of course, I wasn't sure of how close he was to your wife, so I couldn't be sure."

"Then what was all the bullshit about you thinking I had something to do with it and then when you jumped to saying she ran away with Kuroo!?" Daichi let out, exasperated at the idea that Giichi had even suspected Imai.

"Well in the beginning, I really did consider Mr. Kuroo a suspect. After being told by Mrs. Sawamura's secretary that he sent her flowers and how you hadn't known she was pregnant, he actually was my prime suspect. The next day when you showed me the picture, I found it all too convenient. The time stamp on the picture showed that it was taken not even an hour after I had first suggested the possibility of the two of them having run away. And then of course, the picture itself suggested to me that Mr. Kuroo was a victim himself. If you recall, I asked you not to tell anyone about the picture. I had begun to suspect Imai even more since only a handful of people knew of that theory in the beginning, and even though you were adamant that Mr. Kuroo and Mrs. Sawamura didn't run off together, I didn't want it confirmed for any listening ears."