“Oh no, he’s hot.”

 

In the city of Kameoka, the bustling morning market meant something that other towns could not quite experience. What resided in the centre of the lively city was a man. A man with indigo hair. A man with indigo hair and teal eyes. A man with indigo hair and teal eyes balancing a ripe apple on his head.

 

“With his long hair that he ties to the side, perfect height, his talent of balancing an apple on his head when he dances from street to street, I would not dare deny if he is chosen to be an oiran at the red-light district,” the grocer of a vegetable and fruits stable sighed. “AH! Don’t tell me that apple is from my––!?”

 

“It’s just an apple, who cares?” A passing woman giggled, a hand to her mouth in politeness. “His face could easily bring you much profit if you kept him.”

 

“But does he not have his own job?”

 

“My, what does he work as?”

 

“Y-You might be a bit disappointed, Nishina-san. He’s working as a…detective, or something among those lines.”

 

The woman, Nishina, widened her eyes accompanied by an audible gasp escaping her lips. “Oh my. That…is not quite the most stable occupation to have. Poor child, at a young age like that, he may face many financial difficulties.”

 

“Tsk, he might not look like it –– but he’s doing pretty well,” another voice chimed aggressively into the conversation. The two elderlies turned their heads behind them to see once more, a young man with his hands crossed. Fiery red hair styled to the side and tall stature; his exhausted eyes judged the waltzing friend of his from a safe distance away. “He doesn’t quite have his own firm for business which is why he helps us with our daily to weekly newspapers, but his reputation in Kyoto has risen by quite a lot. Have you not heard of the recent jewellery robbery just a month ago? He was the one who solved it.”

 

“Why good morning to you, Shijou-san!” Nishina greeted with a respectful smile. “Now that I think about it, you two are very good friends, is that not so? With no offence given, I do wonder how you two have established such a balance friendship.”

 

“It’s something that just happened –– of course, I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing,” The young man named ‘Shijou’ sighed, releasing his arms. “He’s just…”

 

“Random?”

 

Hearing the familiar yet deeper voice behind him, the red-haired male immediately threw an arm around the figure without having to look back. As he had expected, said detective had miraculously appeared from their backs in order to scare them.

 

“Ack, you don’t have to grab me like that every single time I try to surprise you!” The detective cried, patting his hands on his friend’s own arm to release him from the pain. “And to answer your question, I am not random –– I just have too many brains in my head that wants to do different things simultaneously, Shijou Hiyori.”

 

“Shijou Hiyori?” The elderly woman repeated.

 

“Shijou…Hiyori?” The elderly man repeated.

 

The two seniors immediately turned their heads to each other before erupting into a fit of laughter.

 

“For a mature man like you, that’s certainly a very adorable name,” they exclaimed to the red-haired man with reassuring back pats, causing him to erupt in fury as much as his hair blazed in the sunlight. Before Hiyori was able to refute by pushing the detective back for another headlock, he had already slipped through his grasp and threw the apple back on his head as a taunt.

 

“Urgh, you’re going to have to pay for this, Amamiya Tsukito!”

 

Shortly after that, Hiyori cooled off his steam by making his way back to the newspaper firm. Slightly lowering his head to greet each of his work colleagues allowed him to simply forget about the morning commotion that he had to deal with on his own on a daily basis –– he was sure that his hair that he loved so much would soon be a passing memory and leave nothing but smooth baldness during the fearful winter. He exhaled in enervation for the n-th time and walked into his office, brushing a hand on the large window following his desk where he could see the active citizens hustling their way.

 

“I heard you’re taking a short break from work?”

 

Swivelling his head around, he was met with one of his colleagues standing at his door. A trivial stack of papers supported by his palms, the associate marched towards the study desk and rested it smoothly without sound on the surface. Hiyori propped himself on the leather armchair, slowly leaning his back on the backrest, peering at the latter with his eyes half open. His soothing voice echoed through the room that harmoniously overlapped with the ticking of the grandfather clock. “Apparently I’ve been working my butt off ever since I started. It would be an understatement to say that the boss is forcing me out after today if I don’t take her vacation ticket.”

 

“Vacation ticket?”

 

Hiyori lowered his back at his desk to search for the item of interest, then drew out what seemed to be a paper coupon with a similar appearance to a train ticket; a three-night stay at the Gion district inn.

 

“That’s amazing,” the colleague beamed at the sight of a ticket that he himself did not earn. “An inn would definitely help you relax after all you’ve contributed so far; you’ve earned it very well! Aah, I would like to go on vacation as well one day –– but it seems like the boss thinks I’m slacking off.”

 

“While I’m not sure if I heard it properly, I overheard the boss having more than one ticket available,” Hiyori reassured, waving a hand in dismissal followed by a yawn. “Perhaps if you appeal to her today depending on whether the spares are still available, she might give one to you.”

 

However, the poor mob colleague could not receive the ticket ­­–– as someone else had received it for a completely separate reason.

 

In front of the boss’ office was the teary-eyed colleague, the puckering of his lips, and the fact that he had to control his frustration in front of a frolicking detective who arrived to work late, waving his ticket around in glee. Tsukito returned the colleague’s sobbing with a smug, continuously swaying his seaweed-like arms while chanting ‘inn ticket’, ‘inn ticket’ and the damn ‘INN TICKET’.

 

“You see, my dear friend,” Tsukito cleared his throat, sparkles gleaming behind him comically. “It’s always 'work smart, not work hard'.”

 

“B-But out of all of us, you do the least amount of work!?”

 

“Lies, snobs ­­–– all of you, do you not concede to the meaning behind my blissful dismissal?” The detective childishly questioned in a dramatic manner. “Think about it, this detective who does more grammar checking than actual investigative work is suddenly given a three-night inn ticket from no one other than the boss. What could be the reason behind it?”

 

The mob colleague squinted at the sight of the detective and pursed his lips. After a few seconds of silence, he gasped in the consciousness of a probable reason. “Perhaps it’s because…”

“Yes, dear friend, go on~!”

 

“It’s because…”

 

“Hm~?”

 

“It’s because paying for a ticket so you can temporarily leave the firm is the best way for us to avoid meeting you and focus on work!”

 

.

.

.

 

Rather than retort the colleague’s assumption, the detective stood still. Still, silent, stagnant –– frozen in place.

 

Hearing the footsteps leaving an office, Hiyori stood in front of the pair and observed Tsukito who was at a halt. “You really did it, huh? I ran across the boss just then and she said that this guy’s got some work to do at the inn. It seems there’s something that Tsukito wants to investigate there.”

 

“Ooh, so it isn’t because the boss wanted to dismiss him so much…”

 

“He won’t move unless you pour out the most heartfelt apology you could ever muster, though.”

 

That day, the mob colleague and Hiyori decided to take the poor detective out for lunch.