Chapter 5:

It soon became morning and Momo woke up with a sharp pain in her head. She held her head with one hand while trying to get out of bed with the other. She noticed Jihyo was not sleeping beside her and probably was in the kitchen. She made over to the kitchen warily, still half wobbly from the hangover she was having at the moment.

“Morning Moguri, did you have a good sleep?” Jihyo asked her.

“Yeah… until I woke up to this awful headache…” Momo groaned. She was still groggy as mornings were not her thing.

“This will help you feel better. Sit down at the table or counter. Whatever suits you. Let’s eat breakfast and relax for today until we have to go meet the others.” Jihyo told her. Momo just nodded her head and sat down at the dining table. Jihyo put down a plate that had tamagoyaki (fried eggs), and sausages and grilled salmon on the table. Along with Momo’s favorite tamago kake gohan (egg on rice with shoyu, the one she was talking on Vapp.) She also put 2 bowls of miso soup and 2 cups of tea in front of them.

“The tea and miso soup is to cure the hangover. I made your favorite Japanese style breakfast so you would eat it. “Jihyo explained.

“Thank you Jihyo. You’re the best.” Momo replied. And for a moment Jihyo saw Momo’s eyes glimmer in which she hadn’t seen for so long. Making her smile and glad that she put the effort in making breakfast.

The two finished and Momo offered to clean up. So Jihyo sat down on the couch in the living room turning on the TV, waiting for Momo to finish. When Momo did finally finish, she sat down on the couch next to Jihyo.

“Want to watch something like a movie?” Jihyo asked.

“Anything’s fine. Just no horror or sad movies.” Momo sighed.

“Ok. There’s a comedy show I’ve been recording that I haven’t been able to watch recently because work’s been too busy. Is that ok with you?”

“Yeah sure. Don’t worry about me.” Momo told her.

“Ok.” Jihyo said and switched on the DVR recordings for her show and turned it on. Momo wasn’t really in the mood to watch anything in general so she just sat on the couch looking out the through the glass doors at the yard. When suddenly Momo’s cellphone started ringing.

“Hello? Yes, yes. What?! Ok. I’ll head over as soon as I can. Thanks Bam Bam.” Momo replied and hung up the phone. “Sorry Jihyo, gotta go to headquarters. The test results came out. I’ll meet you guys at the usual place.” Momo said, hurry and got changed and ran out of the door.

Jihyo just sighed. “Seriously, that girl. Today’s her day off. She bolted out the door last time she had the day off too.”

Momo after running out of Jihyo’s apartment, she ran straight to the Jokbal restaurant’s parking lot where she left her car last night. She got the keys out and went in the car and turned the engine on. When she was about to drive away she realized she had her phone in her hand. She froze for a second. When did she pull her phone out? She realized she even had Mina’s contacts pulled up on the screen too. Momo wondered if she should call her but decided not to. It was her day off and she just started yesterday. Plus it would be easier for her to handle everything on her own. She then quickly headed over to the headquarters. Once she got there, she went straight to the forensics department instead of her own department.

“Hey, were the results really positive?” Momo said opening the door to one of the offices panting.

“Wow… Didn’t expect you to come running here. But yes, the tests are positive. Want me to explain?” A guy in a lab coat with very messy reddish pink hair asked.

 “Yes Bam Bam please.” Momo told him.

“Well as you suspected, there was some remnants of sleeping pills and also probably a few drops of chloroform injected in the fruits. Probably for precaution reasons to make sure the victim wouldn’t wake up. We also found both of the suspects on the fruit baskets that were collected. However only one was on all of them. The other guy’s fingerprint was only on one of them. So I’m suspecting he just brought it over or moved it when he did his own delivery.” Bam Bam explained.

“Which one of the 2 is it?” Momo asked urgently.

“The newspaper guy. His fingerprints were all over the place. Either he’s trying to throw us off or he’s really dumb. Because if I were him, I would make sure to wipe my fingerprints off clean for whatever I would use in a crime.” Bam Bam said. “Not that I would commit a crime or anything.” Bam Bam added since Momo was glaring at him.

“If you ever do, you’re dead you know that right?” Momo told him and Bam Bam just nodded his head furiously.

“Thanks again Bam Bam. See you later.” Momo told him and ran off before he can say anything back.

Momo went up to her own department, which surprised everyone there. Since it was her day off. “Hirai-kun what are you doing here? Isn’t today your day off?! “Her boss Inspector Megure asked.

“Yes it is but I heard the results for the case I’m handling were back positive and came in. You don’t have to pay me for today’s work today sir. I just want the case to be closed as soon as possible for the victims that were involved. Can you please issue a search and arrest warrant for this man?” Momo asked him handing the culprits picture and information.

“Alright. But today is the last day I’m doing this Hirai-kun. You need to stop coming to work on your days off. You need to rest you know.” Inspector Megure sighed.

***

On the other hand while Momo was running around trying to finish the case. Mina was still in dreamland. Like Momo, Mina also not being a morning person would usually spend half her days off, sleeping. While spending the other half eating or playing games. Which she knew it wasn’t really a healthy way to spend her days off, but couldn’t really help herself. Sana had already woke up a while ago, ate breakfast and was now watching a movie with her beloved Tzuyu.

It was past noon and Mina finally woke up rubbing her still sleepy eyes, dragging her feet out into the living room of Sana’s apartment.

“Good morning, sleepyhead! Breakfasts on the table, just warm it up ok?” Sana said and went back to watching the movie. Mina still not fully awake, just nodded and proceeded over to the table picked up the plate and put it in the microwave. After warming it up, she went back to the table and started eating. She looked over to where Sana and Tzuyu were and saw that they were watching “A liter of tears.” Which is Sana’s favorite. Mina shook her head in disbelief. “How can they watch such a sad movie from this early in the day?” Mina thought to herself. She then cleaned up her dishes and went outside to the balcony to get fresh air. Today was such a nice day out. The skies in a perfect shade of light blue, the sun shining with fluffy white clouds everywhere. Mina stretched and breathed in the nice fresh air as the sunlight hit her hair, making it shine beautifully.

​There was still time before, everyone was meeting up at the Jokbal restaurant again so Mina decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. After taking a walk, and came back Tzuyu and Sana were getting ready to leave. So Mina also got ready and Tzuyu drove them again to the Jokbal restaurant. Everyone but Momo was already there. Jihyo explained that Momo would be coming late. Which surprised Mina because Momo seemed to be the type to be always prompt and be on schedule.

“Sorry I’m late! We kind of had trouble catching the culprit. That scoundrel newspaper delivery man tried to run away and we had to catch him. Anyways, Jihyo the burglary case is closed now. Division two is interrogating him right now.” Momo told them.

Mina was hurt that her partner didn’t call her. She wanted to solve the case together with her. They were partners right? Momo must have seen the evident hurt look on her face because she added, “Myoui, I’m sorry for not informing you earlier. But I didn’t want to bother your day off. Plus you just started yesterday. You should rest when you can.”

“Yah! You’re in no position to be able to tell her that!! I know you spent most of your days off working without pay for the past 5 years, Hirai Momo! If anything you’re the one who needs rest! No working for you tomorrow. REST OK?” Jihyo emphasized as she smacked Momo’s head, making everyone laugh.

“No arguing. I’ll talk it over with Inspector Megure and I’m pretty sure he’ll agree with me.” Jihyo added.

“Fine.” Momo replied.

This time Momo did not sit at a table by herself. She actually joined the group and talked here and there. Although it was mostly answering someone’s question. She seemed to even get along more with Sana and Tzuyu now. But not her. Which made Mina sad. Would it have made a difference if she wasn’t her partner? Maybe, but she doubts it because Momo didn’t want to associate with anyone in general. It’s just that since she knows Jihyo, Nayeon, and Jeongyeon for so long that she’s always with them. Plus, if Mina wasn’t her partner she wouldn’t be close to the other 3 like she is now either. So I guess it was a good thing to be her partner instead of someone else’s.

Mina went to work the next day and felt weird that Momo was not next to her sitting at her desk. Since her partner wasn’t here, she pretty much did desk work all day aside for a few errands she was asked to do inside the headquarters. Even though it was only her second day working here, Mina felt like she had been working here for such a long time. She absolutely loved it, not that she hated her former job at the station. She also missed Momo terribly when it hasn’t been even 24 hours since she last saw her.

Momo on the other hand was in bed, resting. She was bored to the point that she couldn’t eve sleep. She got annoyed and put on the TV. The news was playing and it showed the theft incident she just finished yesterday. Momo smiled to herself as she saw Ms. Hoshino getting an interview with the local TV station about the incident. Her mind immediately froze though when she said, “I’d like to thank Hirai-san and Myoui-san especially for solving this case and giving back the silverware my past mother has left me.Their teamwork  is really amazing and both are excellent police detectives to be able to solve the case so quickly. I really appreciate their effort and kindness.” Tears were streaming down her face, and Momo was glad Ms. Hoshino was happy again. She was completely taken back from her words though and was surprised Ms.Hoshino even talked about them in the first place. Momo really did think that Mina was the easiest to work with out of all her past partners and that both of them had great chemistry. But she didn’t want to admit it. Because if she did, she might lose someone precious again.  

** Author's note

Sorry I haven't been able to upload in such a long time! I had so much work and 3 midterms the past week. Since things are much smoother now, I can probably update more often as long as I don't run out of any ideas. I'm sorry that this chapter is kind of short! I promise you the chapters coming are much more thrilling and interesting. Please feel free to comment anything. Also I have two more stories that I wrote the first 2 chapters for  but I should finish this one and my other series first right? Or should I just start posting the new stories?