“It’s the security footage,” Sungmin said as he played the video for Haruki.

“The one on the left is Nam Woohyun,” Ryeowook added, pointing to the door. “The one on the right is Lee Howon, also known as Hoya. He’s the owner of the gun, but he definitely can’t be the shooter. We’ve watched this video a hundred times. He never leaves that spot.”

“How is that possible?” Haruki asked. “Are you sure it’s the same gun?”

“Heechul compared the bullets,” Sungmin replied, referring to their bad-tempered retired ballistics expert. “Since it’s a delicate situation, I thought it was best if he took a look at them. Here’s his report.”

Haruki took the papers from him and examined them closely. Heechul had marked the distinctive grooves on the bullets found in G.O.’s body and the ones test-fired from Hoya’s gun. They matched perfectly. She shook her head again. “This makes no sense.”

“Woohyun and Hoya are both here, if you want to talk to them,” Sungmin said.

“Thanks.” She followed him towards the interrogation room, where two men were seated, quietly staring at the table. “Mr. Nam? Mr. Lee?" she asked. Both of them looked up, quickly rising to their feet as she held out her hand to shake theirs.

“I saw the tapes,” she said, skipping the formalities and cutting straight to the chase.

“So you know he’s innocent,” Woohyun said. “That’s great! Can we go?”

“I just have a few more questions,” Haruki said. The man rolled his eyes. “Hoya, is there any chance…any chance at all that your gun was switched with a different one?”

Hoya shook his head slowly, then more vigorously. “No. That’s my weapon. I’m very particular about the grip.”

“What’s wrong with the grip?” she asked.

“I’ve used it for so long that it just feels familiar,” he replied. “I can’t use anyone else’s gun. I always hold it to check before I strap it into the holster, just in case I need it.”

“Did you check again afterwards?” she asked.

“Not when I ended my shift,” Hoya explained. “But that’s definitely my gun that you’re holding for evidence.”

“Are there anyone else’s fingerprints on it?” asked Woohyun.

Haruki shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”

“So maybe it floated out of its holster and shot the guy before floating back in place,” Woohyun suggested.

Hoya just rolled his eyes as Haruki sighed. “Hoya…I’m going to ask you a question and it’s going to seem a bit weird, but I just want you to answer it.” He nodded. “Is there any possibility, no matter how slight, that someone took the gun from your holster while you were standing in your position and then put it back in before your shift ended?”

“What?” Woohyun snapped. “That’s crazy!”

“Crazier than your floating gun theory?” Hoya retorted. He turned to Haruki and tapped his index fingers together as he thought. “I didn’t use my gun at all during that shift…in fact, I rarely use it at all…

“So yes, I suppose it is possible.”

“You really think someone snatched it out of the guard’s pocket?” Ryeowook asked.

“I know it’s unlikely, but I can’t think of any other explanation,” Haruki replied. “Watch the tape again. See if anyone brushes really close to Hoya.”

“Yeah. A lot of people,” Ryeowook replied, waving the remote at the screen. “Half the people who go into that courtroom pass by him. Besides, we can’t even get a good view of their faces. This person must be as good as Apollo Robbins to go unnoticed like that."

“Who?” asked Sungmin.

“The guy who pickpocketed the Secret Service agent on national television,” Ryeowook snapped. “Don’t you watch the news?”

“Either way, we’re looking for someone who has to be a bit unhinged,” Haruki muttered. “Stealing a guard’s gun and shooting a defendant in full view of the courtroom…that’s a ballsy move.”

“We don’t have much to go on,” sighed Sungmin. “Did you see anything Haruki?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, guys. I don’t think I can help you with this. I didn’t see anything suspicious while I was in the courtroom. Maybe you can try to identify everyone who was in the courtroom and see who is registered to use weapons. Check for people who have a hunting license or who frequent shooting ranges.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Sungmin.

“The shooter killed G.O. with one bullet to the back of the head from several yards away,” Haruki replied. “Aim that good takes practice.”

“Well, thanks.” Sungmin rubbed the back of his neck. “You were a lot of help.” She smiled and walked out of the room. Sungmin turned to see Ryeowook staring at him. “What?”

“Why did you ask her?” his partner asked, pretending to pout. “Am I not good enough or something?”

“She gets all the cases with weird twists,” Sungmin replied. “I-I thought she might be able to, you know, give us insight.” Ryeowook’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

His partner smiled as he slowly pointed at Sungmin. “You like her, don’t you?”

"No!” Sungmin snapped, but Ryeowook didn’t look convinced.

“Morning!” Haruki groggily entered the coffee room to see Lu Han holding out a cup to her, grinning from ear to ear.

“Morning?” She took the cup from him with a nod of thanks. “What are you doing here?”

“Guess!” he chirped, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet.

“I don’t guess,” she muttered, taking a sip.

“I got promoted to the Crime Scene Unit!” he yelled and she choked, accidentally spitting her coffee back into the cup.

“How?” she asked. “I mean, congratulations!” Inwardly, she was still wondering how that had happened, seeing as she had never seen Lu Han do any work during her year in Evidence.

“Thank you!” he beamed.

Chief Park poked his head through the door and nodded his greetings to them. “Ah, I see Lu Han has already told you the good news. He’ll be working with Taeyeon and Yuri in about two weeks. In the meantime, I want him to get familiar with the whole process of Forensic work. He’ll shadow Shindong in the morgue and Kyuhyun in the lab for a bit. For now, I want him to shadow you and Siwon, to give him a basic understanding of what we do in the FID. Alright?”

Before Haruki could say anything, Eunhyuk spoke up. “You sure that’s a good idea, Chief?” he asked, flashing Haruki a teasing grin. “Trusting Haruki with another rookie?”

Chief Park shot Eunhyuk a warning look, but Haruki barely noticed. She could feel her fingers freeze around the steaming cup she was holding. Wordlessly, she dropped it into the trash can and walked out of the room, with Lu Han struggling to keep up with her brisk stride.

“I know we talked about this yesterday,” Siwon said. He was seated across from Haruki’s in her office, with Lu Han perched on a chair beside her. “I just want to go over it one more time.”

“Forget that, Siwon,” Haruki replied, taking the pen Lu Han was playing with and shoving it into her desk. “I thought Narsha was the doctor you said Onew was friends with. But when I talked to him after the session yesterday, he said he had no idea who she was.”

Siwon frowned. “What?”

“He said he’d never heard of her,” Haruki explained. “His friend’s name is Dr. Park Yoochun and he’s been out of town.”

“How…” Siwon looked bewildered. “But…” Then he shook his head quickly. “We’ll have to bring her in for questioning. Unless that contact information is fake, too.”

“If it is, why?” asked Haruki. “Why fake being a psychiatrist at a mental hospital?”

“Well, maybe she knew you’d be there,” Siwon replied.

“You think the whole thing was a set up?” Haruki asked.

"It’s starting to look like one,” Siwon replied.

“What’s this?” Lu Han asked suddenly, extracting a notebook from Haruki’s file cabinet. He flipped it open and Haruki quickly moved to snatch it back, but Siwon grabbed it first.

“Is this Taemin’s diary?” he demanded. Haruki’s eyes dropped and her partner shook his head in exasperation. “Why do you still have this?”

“No reason,” Haruki replied. “I was going to turn it in-”

“You were going to?” Siwon snapped. “When? This isn’t a library book, this is evidence! You should have logged it the moment you brought it back here. You’ve kept it since we went to his hospital room?”

Haruki just nodded, staring down at the desk. Even Lu Han had fallen silent as he pasted himself into a corner, staring fearfully at Siwon.

“This is exactly the kind of thing I’m supposed to report to Chief, Haruki,” Siwon snapped.

“Please don’t-”

“I have to,” Siwon sighed, looking just as upset as she felt. “You’re supposed to prove to him that you’re mentally ready to be back on the job. I thought you were.” He tapped the diary against his palm again. “Maybe I was wrong.”

Haruki just slumped down in her seat as Siwon walked out of the room.

“You going to eat that?” Lu Han a dab of sauce from the corner of his mouth and pointed at her untouched salad, which she had been prodding with her fork for the past ten minutes. Haruki shook her head and pushed the tray towards him, only to have him push it back. “You really need to eat something, Haruki. You barely touched your bagel this morning.”

“I’m not hungry,” Haruki replied as she set her fork down with a sigh.

“Cool. Don’t mind me, then.” A hand reached over and grabbed her bread roll as Jongin plopped down beside her with a grin.

“Good to see you again, Morita,” Yixing grinned as he exchanged high-fives with Lu Han and sat down as well.

“What are you all doing here?” Haruki asked as Suho and Baekhyun joined their table as well. Suho waved towards the line at the cafeteria and Haruki thought she saw the rest of the Evidence boys standing there.

Kris rolled his eyes as he pulled up a chair across from her. “It’s noon. We’re in a cafeteria. Three guesses.”

Haruki just nodded and stood up to leave. “I’m done. It was nice seeing you all again.”

“No!” Jongin grabbed her arm and yanked her back down. “I heard you got this wicked complicated case! Tell us about it! How did the guy die?”

“I’m not allowed to give you the details,” Haruki replied.

“He was the serial killer, right?” asked Chanyeol as he reached over to snag a crouton from her tray. “I read about it in the paper. They said he was killed by an icepick.”

“Whoa, really?” grinned Chen. “How do you kill someone with an icepick?”

“Stab them, duh,” Chanyeol replied.

“Guys…” Lu Han glanced at Haruki who had gone back to poking at her salad.

“Yeah, but where?” asked Xiumin. “Heart? Lungs?”

“The paper said eyes,” Sehun grinned, pantomiming getting stabbed in the face. He gagged, clutched at his throat, and slumped on the table as several of the others laughed.

Tao cringed. “Eww! I’m eating!”

Jongin laughed as he picked up his fork and leaned across the table. “Watch out, Tao! Killer’s going to stab your eyes out!” Tao yelped and ducked as Jongin playfully lunged at him.

Shaking his head, Suho shoved the younger man back into his seat. “That’s enough.”

“What are you looking at, Kris?” Lu Han asked, casting another glance at Haruki, whose prodding motions had gotten even more repetitive.

Kris had his laptop on the table and his plate to the side as he scrolled through something on his screen. “I found this CD in the Evidence room and I wanted to see what’s on it.”

“Ooh, maybe it’s a kidnapper’s demands or something,” grinned Chen as he leaned over to look until Kris elbowed him away.

“Nah, I think it’s music,” Kris replied.

Kyungsoo let out a bark of laughter. “You watch too many bad cop shows, Chen.”

The chatter died down as the first few notes rang out, playing a catchy and playful melody. “Nice beat,” grinned Jongin.

No one noticed Haruki’s fork clatter into her tray.

“Noona neomu yeppeoseo

Guys won’t leave her alone.”

“Turn it off,” Haruki whispered. (“Her heart is shaking, I know her true feelings.”)

“What?” Kris asked, turning the volume up a bit louder. “Can’t hear you.” He grinned and Haruki felt her chest clench painfully. She told herself to get up and walk away, there was still time, she could still escape. But her arms hung dead at her sides and her legs were frozen and she couldn’t make them move.

“My love for her is just an instant feeling

Whatever anyone says, she’s my life.”

“Please, turn it off,” Haruki repeated, though she could barely hear herself over the music. (“Perhaps she’s uncomfortable”)

“Why? It’s a nice song,” Kris replied. (“Her gazing eyes tell me so”) “A little cheesy, but still nice.”

“Something wrong?” asked Lu Han. (“And I think I’m gonna hate it girl, the end is coming”)

Haruki shook her head. “Kris…” He just grinned impudently at her, silently asking what she was going to do about it.

“It’s the heart speaking, whatever anyone says

Noona neomu yeppeo”

“I said turn it off!” Her voice cracked as she lunged across the table and slammed the laptop shut, knocking several trays off the table. Plates and utensils clattered to the ground and Kris jumped to his feet, his pants covered in pasta sauce.

“What was that for?” he demanded.

But Haruki couldn’t hear anything besides that stupid song which was still playing and it wouldn’t stop until it drowned out even the roaring in her ears as she dropped back into her seat.

“Looking at her I go crazy

But now I’m getting tired

Replay, replay, replay”

She clamped her deadened hands over her ears to block out the music, chest tightening even further as her lungs burned for air. The only sign of life in her fingers was the painful tingling in them and she could feel her heart hammering against her legs as she drew them to her chest and buried her face against her knees.

“Memories scratch at my heart

My heart aches, please fix it

The farewell is approaching

Replay, replay, replay”

With each “replay,” Haruki tried to curl up tighter, feeling hot tears on her cheeks, but they didn’t seem like her tears anymore. Her stomach churned and her head spun as she stared at the ground, but it wasn’t her stomach, it wasn’t her head, none of it felt real. She was watching the scene, she was watching someone else, another girl huddled on her chair with everyone in the whole goddamn room staring at her. She tried to scream for the girl to run, but there was a wall between them, an invisible one, and she was gasping desperately as she pounded on it, trying to reach that girl to save her.

The words of the song were blurring together and someone was calling her name, screaming it. She caught the words “choking” and “ambulance” and “heart attack”, but it all sounded distorted and none of it made sense.

“Keep thinking about you”

A hand reached for her shoulder and she flinched away, looking everywhere for an exit, but all she saw were peoplepeoplepeople. They were surrounding her, they were coming after her, they were going to kill her-

“Keep dreaming about you-”

“Haruki-”

“What’s wr-”

“Can you hear-”

“Noona neomu yeppeo”

Haruki abruptly stood up from the table, head bowed as she shoved her way through the massive throng of her colleagues, blindly running until she tripped and fell against the wall. She crumpled to the ground, her legs just giving away, and clutched at , unable to breathe.

“I need a replay…”

Chief Park held out the steaming mug of tea towards Haruki, but she didn’t even seem to notice it. With a sigh, he set it down on his desk right in front of her.

“Haruki.” She flinched at the sound of her name and looked up reluctantly to meet his worried but stern eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me about the panic attacks?”

The lump in grew as she balled her hands against her knees. A tear landed on his desk, followed by another as her shoulders shook. Chief Park said nothing as he waited patiently.

“I couldn’t,” she whispered.

“I need to know these things,” he replied. She just nodded, hands clenching and relaxing as they rested on her knees. “Why?” he asked again.

“Because I’m not the same person I was before,” she finally mumbled. “I’ve been having panic attacks since I was kidnapped.”

“How often?” Chief Park asked.

Haruki sighed. There was no point in hiding it anymore; the whole department had witnessed her meltdown in the cafeteria. “Several times a week,” she replied. “Sometimes more than once a day.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Chief Park repeated, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Because I couldn’t!” Haruki snapped, another angry tear making its way down her face. “Everyone always thought I was weak to begin with. I had to act strong- be strong to earn respect from everybody. And after-” She broke off and sniffled, wordlessly taking the tissue that her boss handed her.

After blowing her nose, she went on. “After you all saw me like that, I had to act like nothing was wrong. Just coming here, to this building, terrified me. I never knew when another panic attack would happen. But I had to keep pretending I was the same as before, to prove that I still belong here.”

“Saw you like what?” asked Leeteuk. Haruki just clenched her jaw, but didn’t answer.

“I couldn’t tell you about it,” she finally said. “Because I just couldn’t admit it to myself.”

“Admit what, Haruki?” Leeteuk asked again, his calm voice a stark contrast to her rising hysteria.

“That I’m broken!” Haruki blurted out. “That no one will look at me the same way ever again! How can they? How can anyone think I belong here after seeing me like that? This broken and-”

“Listen to me, Haruki,” Leeteuk ordered as he reached across the table and grabbed her shoulders, looking squarely into her eyes. “I hired you because you had the highest score on the detective’s exam I’d seen in years. I hired you because of the glowing recommendations I got from your previous bosses, talking about your strength and your talent. I hired you because I knew that you could handle the pressure of this job- your record proved that to me.”

Haruki sniffled and she dabbed at her nose with the tissue again.

“You are one of the most reliable detectives who's ever worked for me,” he went on, squeezing her shoulders slightly. “Even if you’re a loose cannon and don’t follow my rules. I can always count on you to break your cases and I have never regretted my decision to hire you for a moment. Do you hear me?”

Haruki nodded wordlessly.

“No one breaks Morita Haruki unless she lets them,” Chief Park said firmly. “It’s a choice. Understand?”

New tears came to her eyes, but this time, she smiled as she nodded. “Yes, sir.” 

A/N: I attempted to make a poster! :D If anyone would like to make me a better one or has some suggestions on how I could improve it, I would appreciate it! 

Updates will be sporadic, also known as whenever I feel like procrastinating on real work.