日本語 101
Japanese 101

Tadaimaただいま means I'm Home
Okaeri お帰り means Welcome Back
Baka 馬鹿 means Stupid / Idiot 
Chan ちゃん means little one, an honorific usually reserved for children or people who are close friends or family members
San さん means Mr, Mrs, A universally to address people out of respect 
Kaa 母 means Mother
Konbanwa こんばんわ means Good Evening
Gomen Nasai ごめんなさい means I'm Sorry
Moshi Moshi もしもし means Hello (Over the phone)

 

“Tadaima,” Kindaichi Hajime walked into his house with his hands full of shopping bags to the surprise of Mrs Kindaichi.

“Okaeri Hajime-chan, what have you bought?” Mrs Kindaichi walked to relive her son off the different colourful bags while peeking into the bags.

Pardon her for being curious but the Kindaichi Hajime she knew never bought anything home at all, preferring his mother to buy everything for him. That was why Mrs Kindaichi was surprised to see her son carrying so many shopping bags upon returning.

“I bought some candies, doughnuts, cakes, lollipops and jellybeans,” Kindaichi laughed at the strange look which crossed his mother’s face, “No, I didn’t suddenly grow a sweet tooth. It’s all for Sho-chan. She has a rough night, so I thought I’ll just get her something to cheer her up.”

At the mention of their houseguest, Mrs Kindaichi smiled at her son’s thoughtfulness and turned to look towards the second bedroom on the left with a slight frown, “She works very hard ne. I noticed that the lights in her room are still on from early morning till now. I hope she did at least try to take breaks in-between, otherwise, she will get sick soon if she works like this every day.” 

“It’s already 3 pm in the afternoon; surely she has taken a break by now or stepped out of the room at least?” Kindaichi Hajime was shocked by his mother’s observation. According to her earlier conversation, Sho-chan had returned sometimes past 3 am in the morning and had been working since then.

Did the words of Detective Akechi and Inspector Kenmochi hurt her so much that she is throwing herself into work? 

Kindaichi was getting worried about that girl, it seems just like her to put up a strong front in front of everyone else.

Understanding her son’s concern, Mrs Kindaichi shook her head sadly, “she didn’t even come out for lunch when I called for her.”

With a sharp determined nod of his head, Kindaichi Hajime walked to the bedroom to check on the young girl while muttering angrily about her, “You said you can take care of yourself, now look, is this how you take care of yourself? By recklessly putting yourself in dangerous situations and working your health off is your idea of taking care? How can I ever not worry if you don’t even care about yourself huh?”

Overhearing her son’s words, Mrs Kindaichi could not help but giggle softly at her worrywart of a son, it was such a rare occasion to see her son react in such a protective manner. Come to think about it, the only other girl whom could get such a reaction from her son was Miyuki-chan. But it was usually more of Miyuki-chan worrying over Hajime than him over her.

There is something about that young girl named Aoyama Sho which made her son reacted strongly to her. Call it a mother's instinct; because Mrs Kindaichi could almost feel something brewing between them.

Not to mention the fact that, this girl is the only girl Hajime ever brought home, besides Miyuki-chan who lives next door.

“Maybe our slowpoke Hajime-chan is not that clueless about girls after all,” Mrs Kindaichi grinned to herself and returned to the kitchen preparing to heat up the food for Aoyama Sho.

 

 

"You said you can take care of yourself, now look, is this how you take care of yourself? By recklessly putting yourself in dangerous situations and working your health off is your idea of taking care? How can I ever not worry if you don’t even care about yourself huh?”

To say that Kindaichi Hajime was at his wit's end when it comes to dealing with Aoyama Sho was probably a bit too much, but he could not deny that he was close to thinking of tying her up to keep her always in his sights and out of trouble. Not that the stubborn girl would appreciate his selfish thoughts, she would probably kick him in the shin and shout at him for “being a selfish baka,” and leaving him yowling out loud in pain.

Opening the bedroom door slowly, Kindaichi Hajime was greeted with a sight much messier than his room even during its worst days. The once pale peach coloured walls were now all filled with papers full of scrawling, while the wooden floor no longer existed, in its absence were piles of countless pieces of papers. In the short few days of accompanying Aoyama Sho, he soon realised that the profiler is probably the messiest person he ever met. 

The only neat item in the room was probably the study room table, where a file was placed on it with a yellow post-it note which stated, “You did not see this!” with a smiley face.

“Reverse psychology huh?” Kindaichi Hajime laughed at the ‘red button test’ Aoyama Sho has set up especially for him and picked up the report against her written instruction.

“Scientific Taskforce Criminal Profiling Analysis Report on the case of Negishi Grandstand School Teacher Heartbreak Serial Murderer,” Kindaichi Hajime read the report title in amusement, “an interesting title of choice.”

Before he could proceed to flip and read its content, Kindaichi Hajime found another piece of the post-it note placed within the page address to him, “I know you can’t resist the red button test, you Baka! Are you a child who can’t listen to instruction? Ever heard of curiosity kills the cat? Whatever, that’s your problem! Send this report to that two Bakas once you finished it. If they still can’t figure out what to do with it, for heaven’s sake, please guide them along. I would expect the top case-closer in Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to be at least to able to follow through my report and close that case properly, Baka! This case is getting boring, so I won’t analyse another similar case even if you are too stupid to nab the prep! :)”

Laughing quietly at her note, Kindaichi Hajime smiled at her between-the-lines message and understood her to wish for him to solve this case quickly despite her carefully penned insulting words. Keeping the note in his pocket, Kindaichi started to read the content of the report.

If he was impressed by Aoyama Sho previously by her speeches, after reading the detailed report written by her, she has successfully knocked his socks off.

“If all the reports submitted by S.T. are all that detailed, it’s little wonder how the First Division Detectives suddenly managed to close so many cases in recent two years after working with S.T. on the cases. They have basically spoon-fed them with all the solutions to the cases,” Kindaichi breathed out loud deeply impressed by the report.

With that report in his hands, catching the murderer was as easy as ABC, since Aoyama has included the prep’s modus operandi and the method to close up on the prep, “You’re truly a genius, Sho-chan. Thank you for the hard work, I’ll take it from here and ensure that the prep will be brought to justice.”

Taking a look around the room, Kindaichi Hajime was not surprised to see the young girl curled up on the floor at the corner of the room, half buried by her notes.

With a sigh, Kindaichi shook his head and proceed to pick her up into his arms before setting her down onto the bed and tucked her in, “As much of a genius you are in your work, you are just hopeless at taking care of yourself right? What should I do with you?”

Poking lightly at her cute button nose, Kindaichi Hajime could not help but to smile at her innocent child-like expression, “I always wonder how does a petite and child-like girl like you stand up to everyone in the Police Department, it must have been difficult for them to take you seriously with your age and intelligence, right? That’s why you grew so defensive and bitter against them. Just like how those seniors in the department would never acknowledge me as an equally capable detective despite my achievement as the top case closer.”

Patting lightly on her fringes with a smile, Kindaichi Hajime stood up and put her report in his bag, “sleep tight Sho-chan, you deserve it. Just leave the rest to me. In the name of my grandfather, I swear to you that I will do everything to ensure that this case will be solved quickly.”

Walking out of her room, Kindaichi closed the door lightly.

“Kaa-chan, I’m heading to the station, we have a case to close, thanks to Sho-chan. She is incredible! Please help me to take care of her as she is very tired from having to complete the report for the tea