Unbetitelt

Takinami Suzuka, even past thirty, finds it hard to love.

He doesn't understand it, he thinks, because it has no logical base and growing up in a world of math, there was never a place for anything he couldn't explain.

"Don't you love me?" His sister had asked when he was six and rushed over crying to their parents at his curt, "I don't know."

That day, his father explained without any judgment:

That love is when mom is ill and Suzuka doesn't sleep because he's worried.

Love is missing his sister while she's away with friends and waiting impatiently for her return.

Love is finding a woman like Dad found Mom and forgetting that logic even exists.

Suzuka laughs, (especially at the last one) and recalls his father's knowing grin.

He remembers it even now as he sees his twenty-year-old assistant hum a tune off the sheet Suzuka spent the night writing (definitely not to impress her) and thinks.

Ah, this is love.

And it's reinforced when he spends the day watching her instruct the members and nearly forgets that he's a math teacher and has to, you know, teach.

Deals with her god awful driving just to stay a moment longer under the pretense that he coincidentally was going in the same direction and takes the train back home because only someone as pure as Akira wouldn't see through such an obvious lie.

Then one average morning when the scent of cherry blossoms fills the air and they sit drinking coffee in the staff room, he says:

"I love you."

Akira spits out the mouthful she had just taken and Suzuka thinks it would take a fool to find someone cute in that state (said fool being him).

"What?" She asks when she's done coughing out the remnants.

"I love you?"

"Why is it a question?"

"Because I don't understand it," he passes her a tissue, "Because it doesn't make sense."

"Emotions seldom do."

Maybe she can tell he doesn't buy it because Akira sucks a deep breath in.

"Do you question everything in the world, Sensei?

"Like how the stars appear to shine a little different in your eyes according to your mood even though you know that's mathematically impossible?"

This, Suzuka can get behind a little.

"Do you track the trajectory of every petal that falls on your head or do you lose yourself in how beautiful it is?"

Half of him wants to tell her how Suzuka actually imagines her adorable reactionary gasp in said situation, but he'd keep that to himself for now.

"There are things you need to understand and then those that make more sense when you don't understand. This is one of them."

"I love you," he answers more confidently, this time.

"I love you, maybe lesser than I admire the petals and stars," (He's lying)

"But more than is mathematically possible, for sure."

And she laughs making her way across the table to rest a warm hand over his cheek. When he feels her giggle across his lips, it really sinks in.

Ah, this is love.

And maybe he could compromise on a little sleep; trade short naps for dates or whatever couples do, and give up on a future with just pets for one with her.

Or maybe they could have both. Or have it all.

Something unreal, surreal.

Still illogical probably, but so so right that he wouldn't take another second from this day forward, to ever question it.

To love Akira, Suzuka could un-logic himself just a little bit, right?

(@chikawaweek Day 6: Strawberries) | ao3

Fuck?

Is all Chika thinks, when he wakes up and realises he’s suddenly in pitch darkness. It’s both a question and a statement - he doesn’t know why he’s here and what he’s doing here, and he also wants to curse because he does know he is, for lack of a better descriptor, fucked for the finals tomorrow.

…Right, his now more-awake brain realises. He’s here in the library precisely because he didn’t want to be fucked for the exam. He still has no idea what he’s doing in pitch darkness, though. Just a few minutes ago, he was attempting to memorise something important from the lecture notes, and probably fell asleep, and -

His eyes fall on the clock, which is when he realises that it wasn’t a few minutes ago, but a few hours ago.

Which means it’s now past midnight. Which means the library is now closed.

Which means…he’s stuck in the library for the night?

How it happened, he barely has any idea - did the librarian forget to do a check before closing up? Or did the librarian actually do the check, but somehow happen to be blind enough to miss all 178cm of his stature?

He decides it doesn’t matter - he figures he’s gotta get the lights on first, somehow. So he gets up, groping around in the dark of the closed library with the dim light of his phone flashlight, and -

A shriek so shrill, Chika almost shrieks in response. He turns his flashlight onto the sudden intruder, and this time, he does shriek in response, because it’s a long-haired, female ghost.

He continues shrieking, because said ghost starts beating him up, and boy is she good at martial arts…

…hold on a second. Can ghosts perform martial arts? And in the first place, can they even physically touch humans?

He grabs the entity by the wrist, be they ghost or non-ghost, and that is when the lights in the library suddenly switch on by themselves. The both of them continue screaming, because lights suddenly turning on can, in fact, be as terrifying as lights suddenly turning off. Seems like the sensor has suddenly detected their presence, or something.

Now that there’s light, she’s definitely no ghost, that much Chika can tell...at least, going by the concept that ghosts don’t possess legs. Though, college so far has been teaching him to question unquestioned assumptions, so he can’t say he’s 100% sure at this point. (Anyway, whether or not she’s a ghost, that sure is an extremely cute hoodie she’s wearing. This ghost sure has good taste.)

“Are you listening,” says not-Ghost, waving her hands furiously in front of his face. He looks up and realises her face is scowling just as furiously.

“Oh, sorry,” chokes Chika. He doesn’t mention that he’s daydreaming (nightdreaming)  about strawberry snacks, thanks to her shirt. “Did you say something?”

“Yeah, I asked if you have any idea what we should do,” Ghost repeats. “Apparently there was a new librarian on shift today, and they had gone home without checking this sector of the library compounds. Thing is, they live two hours from this campus by shinkansen, and they brought the keys home with them.” Ghost (probably not-Ghost, now that Chika pieces the information together) shows him her cell phone screen. “See, they emailed all the students whose library cards were detected as having entered the library, but not yet exited. And there are only 2 email addresses, so the other unlucky person must be you.”

Ah, so that’s what happened. He checks his own emails - on top of 647 unread emails is the same notification as the one on her screen. He clicks on it and checks the other email address; [email protected] is what it says.

“So you must be Sato-san?” He tries, squinting at the email address. “Or Satoo?”

“No, silly.” She sighs, facepalming a bit. “My family name is Houzuki, given name Satowa. How long have you been in this university? Didn’t you know that they truncate names to fit emails, but you can still find out the names of those behind the email addresses by clicking on the email address, and looking at the information bar that appears?”

“Oh,” he says, trying out the function she’d just described. “I see. Well…never really been one to read emails.” He shuts his phone. “Anyway,” he looks at her, and his eyes really cannot stop staring at the cute cartoon on the hoodie. (Nor her face, which is almost as cute; just almost.) “I guess we’re stuck here till tomorrow morning.”

She doesn’t even respond verbally to that fact. She sits down on the floor, frowning even harder than she already is. She must have something really important tomorrow, maybe that’s why she was still here at this hour. (Now that he comes to think of it, he, too, has something important. Really important, in fact.)

“Why were you here till so late?” Chika asks. He sits down beside her. “Exam?”

“Yeah,” She buries her face in her knees. “Finals. Paper II of PS1007.”

That sounds familiar, thinks Chika. And then he realises.

“No way, we’re in the same course?!” Chika chirps. Right, her name is Houzuki, right, which means…

“You’re that Houzuki? The child prodigy? The one who has been estimated most likely to graduate 4 years worth of college within 2 years?” Chika looks at her, almost wide-eyed with disbelief, and perhaps his widened eyes have helped him recognise her face, because he does know this girl, after all - she’s the one who keeps answering the lecturer’s toughest trick questions, and correctly, too. (How it is possible to even correctly answer trick questions in the first place, still remains a mystery to Chika.)

Houzuki doesn’t respond to that. Rubbing her forehead, she sighs slightly before she does respond. “At this rate, I’m not sure if I can even graduate in 4 years. I have managed to study for the test, but I know from past experience that if don’t get any sleep the night before an exam, I can just about say goodbye to my grades.”

“Oh,” is Chika’s only response. He really doesn’t know what to say, nor does he know how to help. So he offers her his shoulder instead.

“Then just sleep? Here, you can even have a pillow.” He pats his shoulder unblinkingly.

At this offer, her face turns into an overripe strawberry, and cute, is what comes into Chika’s mind.

“Idiot,” is all she says, frowning even harder, and it makes her face all the cuter. Almost as cute as her shirt, in fact.

“Anyway, I’m going to watch some anime on my phone, so you can join me if you want,” He whips out his phone; 15% left, says the battery bar. Not a lot to work with. But if Chika isn’t one to live life on the line then he doesn’t know who is, so he decides that nothing’s going to come in between him and his anime, not even the impending test that he happens to have conveniently forgotten about.

A bit of silence from the girl, and it’s almost a full three minutes before she speaks up again. “I guess watching anime is better than trying and failing to sleep on the floor.”

“Good choice,” Chika hands her a earpiece, smiling slightly at how she seems to have loosened up, even if just a bit. “I like this anime. The main character reminds me of my favourite fruit.”

She pauses to think for a while, staring at the screen as she appraises and evaluates the brightly-haired main character of the anime. “Oranges?”

Chika pauses. Thinks for a bit, before he laughs. “No, but you’re quite close, I guess. Strawberries.” Pure silence, so Chika continues to explain. “It’s because of his name.”

Speaking of strawberries, he does have one more packet of Pocky left, right? He checks his jacket pocket and much to his joy, he happens to be right! Nice, he cheers inwardly; now he even has a nice snack to complement the show.

“Here, have one,” Chika offers her some. “It matches your shirt,” Chika points at the strawberry cartoon on her hoodie. “Very cute hoodie.”

“Thanks,” is her only response, but Chika can tell her mood is already way better than she’d started off with.

(1 hour and 15 minutes later, Chika’s phone runs out of battery, but it doesn’t matter, because so do the two of them, and it turns out that Satowa has eventually quietly taken up his pillow offer, after all.)

===============

The next day, the librarian unlocks the library. The first thing she sees is the two of them sleeping together on the floor, though not in the clandestine ways that university students may be often be caught in. Instead, they’re sharing a pair of earphones, with the girl holding an empty packet of strawberry Pocky in hand, and the guy holding a mobile phone, with the girl using the guy’s shoulder as a pillow and the guy using the girl’s head as a pillow.

The librarian can’t even bear to extricate them from each other.

===============

When Chika wakes up, it’s due to a hard kick in his nether regions that he does, and when he opens his eyes, he sees nothing but a very cute girl in a very cute hoodie with a very cute strawberry design, escaping the scene upon having kicked him in the nuts.

“Why,” is the strangled noise that escapes his mouth, as he grabs onto said nuts for dear life, in pure pain, pure suffering.

===============

15/100,  says Chika’s exam paper. “I think I just broke my record,” Chika sighs. “Guess I’m going to have to repeat a year.”

Just then, he feels a jab in his back from behind him, and turns - it’s the same Strawberry girl from the time in the library, the one with academic ability way beyond her years; the one with the extra cute strawberry shirt, and (also extra cute) strawberry-red face.

“Sorry for kicking you the other day,” She appears to be unable to look Chika in the eye, but he can feel her sincerity nonetheless. “And thank you,” she hands him a brand new packet of strawberry Pocky. “I did fine on the exam because your snack and anime helped calm my nerves. So here you are, a full packet in return.” Another pause. “And I hope you did okay on the test, too.”

Another pause. An awkward silence. A blush growing on her face like a strawberry ripening in its field. Chika smiles as he realises that this girl is even cuter than the strawberry on her hoodie was.

“You’re welcome,” he says, feeling an indescribable urge to pat her head. “You don’t have to repay me, either.” He pauses, pondering for a bit; actually, maybe there was something he could use in return. A few things, in fact.

“Well, if you want, maybe you could repay me by telling me where you bought that hoodie you wore that time, because I think I want a matching one.” He pauses to think. “And maybe also watch more of that anime with me, and during then we can share that snack you bought, and we can also share the earpiece, like we did the previous time. That was fun, though we both fell asleep halfway through.” He grins, and the strawberry on her face ripens yet further, now bordering on overripe. (Her cuteness, Chika thinks, is going to give him diabetes at this rate.)

“Doesn’t sound like bad idea,” is all she says, quietly but sincerely.

“And,” Chika scratches his head sheepishly, waving in the air his exam paper, full of strawberry-red marks. “I guess I could use some tutoring, too.”

Happy Birthday, Takinami Suzuka! (28.9.22) (feel free to read this on ao3 if you prefer!)

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

Which is strange, because he’s not the one brewing it. And as far as he knows, he’s the only one who uses this office pantry.

It’s definitely not the type of coffee he’s used to smelling - this one seems to be a tad more acidic.

Maybe they have a new colleague?

(When he gets to the pantry, there’s no new colleague in sight; only an empty pot that he doesn’t recognise, and the smell of freshly brewed coffee.)

--

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

He does, every day, because it is liquid fuel for his existence. Deprive him of it, and he will cease to function, in senses both literal and metaphorical.

(He fills the machine with the beans. Cranks it up. Waits.)

It isn’t like it’s his fault. Insomnia is a real problem for some. Maybe it is a problem too, for their new colleague?

He leaves some coffee in the pot, just in case the new colleague has a problem with insomnia, too, and would like some, too.

(He walks back to his office room, coffee cup in hand, thinking perhaps there hadn’t been a new colleague, after all.)

----

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

Apparently, they probably do have a new colleague, because this time, again, Suzuka isn’t the one brewing it.

When he gets to the pantry, he realises there are two pots of coffee. One of them, the half-filled one he’d left there yesterday, is as cold as the winter air. The other half-filled one is still steaming, imparting to the pantry air a relatively unfamiliar scent.

There’s a handwritten note on the hot pot of coffee; the one that isn’t his.

Your coffee has turned cold. If you don’t mind, you could have some of this.

(Suzuka makes a mental note to leave a physical note in future.)

------

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

He’d even set an alarm for this - he can’t put a finger to the feelings he's experiencing, but something in the deep of his gut is urging him to be the one who brews it this time. And anyway, he figures he still prefers the familiar taste that is his own coffee; the one he’s been drinking everyday for years. So, he figures, he’d better make it to the pantry early.

He does, luckily, and there are two empty pots this time. He brews his coffee, fills his cup and leaves his pot half empty.

(This time, he doesn’t forget to write his intended recipient a note.)

--------

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

He still has no idea who’s brewing it. A new colleague? An acquaintance who has recently realised the pantry exists?

In either case, it’s not his coffee, that much he knows.

(As he sips his new coffee, he realises it’s an acquired taste.)

----------

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

He’d woken up even earlier, this time, just to make sure he gets first dibs to the coffee-brewing. Not that it’s some kind of competition...but still. Who knows - perhaps there may really be some sort of competitive spirit in him, egging him on to feed his favourite brand of coffee to his long-distance mystery coffee partner.

He’s been using the exact same type of beans for years. A real creature of habit, he is. Maybe if he kicks the habit of coffee-drinking, he’ll kick his insomnia away, too...not happening. Coffee happens to be one of the most important comforts in his existence, and he figures that the lack of it will ironically cause him to lose sleep, out of pining. (Talk about a real chicken-and-egg problem.)

(He hangs around the pantry 5 minutes longer than usual, wondering if said long-distance coffee partner will appear. They don’t, so he disappears, too, leaving nothing but a lukewarm half-pot of coffee in his trail.)

------------

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

It’s not the one he’s most used to, though it’s the one he’s getting used to.

He’d forgotten to set his alarm clock yesterday - today morning at 4am to be precise, but yesterday night in terms of normalised time.

What is normal? Suzuka doesn’t know. Maybe he will, someday.

What he does know, however, is that he doesn’t care whether sleeping in his office room is normal. And what he does care about, is that doing this helps save time on commuting to work, which then helps reserve time for work, which then gives him more time for sleep. (Talk about a real chicken-and-egg solution.)

Being a tenured professor has its problems, such as stacks of work, including administrative duties, teaching duties, research duties, or in his case, assisting with police investigations. But it also does have its perks, and having a solo office room to himself is his favourite of them all.

He grabs a cup, fills it, returns to his office room, and sits in the sofabed he’d brought from home, sipping the gift of coffee he has just received.

(As he does, he realises his favourite brand of coffee now has a competitor.)

--------------

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

He’d set his alarm way very early this time, so “wakes up”, here, is almost as literal as it is metaphorical. He really wanted to get first dibs on the coffee-making, because he reckons must convert his coffee partner to his favourite brand of coffee, instead of it being the other way round.

That’s a lie, though, and he knows it. He’d really just wanted to attempt to wait around for his coffee partner, out of curiosity.

Unfortunately, his handphone dings multiple times, telling him that the emails have started to come rolling in.

(He abandons the half-pot of coffee as he walks back to his office to answer the steadily increasing workpile naggingly summoning him, telling the half-pot of coffee to accost his coffee comrade for him, telling himself that the day they meet will come.)

----------------

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

He can recognise that it isn’t his coffee, so he rushes to the pantry, hoping to catch his newfound coffee companion in action.

Unfortunately, he arrives a tad too late, because all there is in the pantry is a half-pot of coffee, lying in wait for him. (At least, he infers is in wait for him - they’ve been keeping this exchange up for a while and they no longer leave sticky notes for each other telling the other party that they are free to drink it, treating it as assumed information instead. Better for the trees, that way.)

(He sips his coffee on the sofabed in his office, and realises that he’s acquired the taste already.)

 ------------------

Suzuka wakes up to the smell of coffee.

It’s his own beans this time, because he has won - well, he has won the race to the pantry, but his beans have lost, because he has found a new favourite brand in the form of the other coffee he alternates between, these days. Or maybe it’s a tie.

Doesn’t matter anyway, because what matters is that he gets to meet his fellow coffee maker. If the insomnia doesn’t kill him, this curiosity will.

So he waits, and the insomnia almost kills him, because the smell of coffee fails to wake him up fully this time, and he almost dozes off while standing up, propped against the kitchen counter in the pantry.

Before he does, he is saved by a tap on the shoulder. He jolts awake, slightly confused, almost forgetting why he’s there.

“Excuse me, sorry, but I am trying to get my pot of coffee into my mug, and you are sort of in the way.”

Suzuka looks up, and almost forgets to breathe for a moment. What he remembers, though, is why he’s there in the first place.

Pale skin. Chin-length hair. Large, round eyes. Tiny nose, tiny mouth.

These are what Suzuka sees when he looks up, but these are all nondescript characteristics, really, because what he sees cannot be described with any word, phrase, or sentence; the only possible description is that it's a taste he probably doesn't even need any time to acquire.

He finally remembers to breathe, fully awake by now.

"Coffee?" is the only thing he says, a question in ways more than one.

I love how Takinami says that the drinks can be tea next time. There's going to be a next time!!!

He refused to accept any homemade chocolates from others but accepted hers.

He recognises her talent and has so much faith in her. I love them!!

They'd make a cute couple

Kono Oto Tomare Sketches

Ooooohhh. So Akira actually gave handmade chocolates to Takinami-sensei during Valentines Day and he accepted it (he didn’t accept any from other girls in the corridor). ^_^

I’m not trying to bring up other ships or anything, but ever since I saw this cover, I can’t stop thinking that if it were Amuazu, Azusa would totally pull something like Juugo does here.

can you tell i really enjoy thinking about how others, especially TMPD, perceive furuya during canon and post-BO when they first met him in various (mostly) unrelated crime scenes

The Japanese fandom speculates that Azusa may have gifted him the earmuffs, since women tend to use them for cold weather more often than men. A cute headcanon.

They even have the same gesture and expression 🥰🥰

There are hints of Gosho's answers in Q&A... such as Akai's type of women. He loves a quiet women who don't get angry.. Well, Shiho is a quiet woman but she's easily mad.

And the other one that I found is that Shiho's favorite chemical element is Ag which is silver. And people call Akai ”Silver Bullet”, right? 😆

And the last one that I've been thinking of is his conversation with James. He said that he has broken up with his girlfriend again. And looks like she won't come back to Akai this time. So, he said ”I swear she'll regret it deeply. You not just broke up with me. She should cry tears of blood.”

First of all.. I don't think he mentioned Akemi because she is already dead..

Second, I also don't think it's Jodie too. Well, as we see Jodie pretty much wants to be back with Akai. So, that's surely not Jodie.

So, who's that?

I guess that it's Shiho. Because we don't see other women that involve Akai but Shiho. Also, if that woman is not Shiho as I think. I believe that she should have been in the shows since then.

Yeah, these are a few theories that I've been thinking because I'm obsessed about them..

Anyway there are some precisions I would like to add.

If I remember correctly, in the SDB+90 Gosho said Shuichi’s type of women are quiet woman (I don’t see anything about not being angry).Here’s the translation that I’ve found on dctp:

Q38: Which type of women do Akai-san and Amuro-san like? Cute, womanly beautiful, cool, natural? A: I think Amuro-san likes intelligent and cheerful women. Akai-san likes quiet women.

Akai and Amuro have opposite tastes in women apparently.

Moreover in SDB80+ Gosho stated something quite similar:

Q77: What types of women do Shuichi Akai and Tooru Amuro like? A: Let's see... Akai would like someone who can have a controlling aura without saying a word. And Amuro would like someone who doesn't mind him talking all the time.

So Ai/Shiho fits that description perfectly, because she’s often portrayed as quiet, calm, and doesn’t need to talk much to be respected by other.And many times we saw Haibara staying near Okiya quietly,she does’t even need to talk much unless she has something interesting to say. She’s the opposite of Akemi who is described as cheerful and popular, who likes chatting with people.

these details kinda gives me hope about some nice Shuichi/Shiho interactions in the future.Because they probably get along very well when he was in the BO as Moroboshi Dai.And even as Okiya he does everything to be appreciated by Haibara and gain her trust :)

Concerning the favorite chemical element of Ai, well your theory is interesting^^

About the conversation with James, well Akai was talking about Gin.Akai used the word “koibito” which means lover but also enemy.this is just a pun...at that time we all thought he was talking about Sherry because we thought he was a bad guy.But the clash between FBI and BO(when Shuichi shot Gin in his face) confirmed in a way that Shuichi was talking about Gin.

I haven't read some more of Q&A of Shuichi's type. That is interesting! And it gives me more hope~

Also, about the angry thing, I've read this Q&A twice. First I read in Thai language, it didn't mention about angry thing. But the other one was English, it did mention. (The picture I inserted ☟︎︎︎☟︎︎︎)

I kind of feel relived now that I have someone to talk with about them ^^

It's fun to share thes cuties moments!

P.s. at first I really wanted DC to end. But after I'm obsessed about them, I don't want DC to end at all. If it continues, we will be able to hope that Shushi will end up together.

But if it ends, we won't be able to do that. Because it's already over.

So about the interviews the one I’ve read is from DCW (translated by the DCTP forum members and they usually do good translation),the angry thing was never mentionned, (https://www.detectiveconanworld.com/wiki/Super_Digest_Books#SDB90.2B_questions) .

I wish I knew japanese so I could have my opinion, so right now I don’t know which translation is better.But a women who don’t get angry is impossible to find, I don’t think that exist XDXDXD so I’ll stick to the quiet thing because it was already mentionned on the SDB 80+ (https://www.detectiveconanworld.com/wiki/Super_Digest_Books#SDB90.2B_questions)

Anyway there used to be a lot of Shuichi/Shiho active fans on tumblr, I guess they all left this social media(or they don’t want to talk about them XDXD).I don’t even come here myself anymore.

I personally continue reading DC because of Shiho and Akai, even if they don’t end up together I’m sure they will have great moments/interactions together.I’m just waiting for him to tell the truth about Akemi’s death.And in the meantime we can hopefully enjoy more cute/funny moments between Subaru and Ai ^^

I have a headcanon:

After the case is over, Amuro goes to Poirot to make sure Azusa is okay.

Azusa is teary-eyed, since Amuro hasn't appeared in a while (because of the bomb collar).

Then, when Amuro tries to calm and hug her, Azusa realises his arm is injured.

And they spend the night with Azusa treating and bandaging Amuro's wound.