Two-face detectives Prologue

Under the cloudy sky, she’s walking quickly through the deserted back alley. There were no people. Old buildings that look like they were built decades ago, and shops that seemed to be shuttered for a long time were lined up on both sides. Making footstep sounds, she’s proceeding inside.

After walking for a while, She arrived at the place indicated by the address written on the memo. However, even if she looked up in front of her, she couldn’t find the name she’s looking for. Just standing in front of her was a building with the same shape as the buildings she had passed many times before arriving here.

But definitely here, it should have been.

"From this point onwards, I can't find it just by looking at it from the outside. Then, I'll try to find it by all means..."  She was going to go in.

･･･････

"Hmm..."

Tatsuya Nachino was alone, smoking a cigarette, holding his head in an office that could never be called clean. He was wearing a gray suit and white shirt, but they are loosely worn, suggesting that he didn't even have time to use them for grooming. And his cheeks were sunken, perhaps from fatigue.

Tatsuya sat down on the old sofa, intently staring through his glasses at the papers thrown on the table below him.

The more he looked at it, the more the enormous amount of work and the effort required to carry it out welled up in his brain, pressing down on his mind.

“I'm grateful to have a job. ..But  they are completely beyond my capacity…”

What was worse, an old detective who secretly supported him in his work had retired, and the weight of the things weighing on him became unbearable.

“It's already the limit…”

Even such a heartbreaking thought welled up in his head.

―At that time, the chime of the office suddenly rang. This is a detective agency that doesn't even have a trade name, and the only people who come to visit are referrals from people with connections.

Tatsuya quickly raised his head, extinguished his cigarette, and hid the documents on his desk as he headed towards the entrance and answered.

"Who is it?"

When he opened the door, he saw a young woman standing there. She wore a navy blue suit with a beige cut-and-sew, and a khaki trench coat over it. Also, she wears suit pants instead of skirts, and her black-rimmed glasses are draped over her fierce face. Tatsuya knew at first sight that this woman was a detective, too.

She said. “This is the Nachino Detective Agency, right?”

As if to remind her, the woman asked. How does she know that name? Before the skeptical Tatsuya could answer the question, the woman pulled out her business card from her pocket.

When he picked it up, Tatsuya was astonished at the name of the woman on her business card.

"Director of the Hasu Detective Agency, Nishiko Hasu"

This is because she has the same surname as his old acquaintance, Seijiro Hasu, who retired recently.

“I knew that you had a connection with my grandfather, so I came here.”

The woman, Nishiko, said so briskly.

Her eyes are filled with something like ambition.

How did she know this place?  She's the granddaughter of Seijiro?What's the point? Did she come to arrest me?

With the door open, Tatsuya stared at the business card he received and thought about such things in rapid succession.

"-It's just a matter of standing and talking. Would you mind letting me talk about various things in the room?"

When Nishiko urged him to do so, Tatsuya felt as if time had begun to move again.

"Well, that's right. Then please come inside. It's a little messy, but please understand."

Tatsuya replied politely and guided Nishiko into her office.

And when he closed the door and took a breather, Tatsuya noticed for the first time that a line of sweat was running down his cheek.

-To be continue.