Chapter Text
Date: September 2015
He didn’t know what to expect when Niijima said someone was joining the forensics unit, but it definitely wasn’t a girl, his age, who had already managed to turn her office into a mess after three hours of being there.
Akechi and Niijima peeked into the newly occupied office across the hall from their own. You stood there in your disheveled glory, rambling to the barely-present SIU Director as you organized your desk. And Akechi had the curiosity: this girl was the new addition to forensics?
“Ah, you’re here,” the director looked more than relieved to see them standing in the doorway; the dreaded look of wishing he wasn’t alive vanished. “(L/N)-san, these are the coworkers I had mentioned. Sae Niijima and Goro Akechi.”
Your head snapped up to Niijima and Akechi, who had begun to step inside. There was a certain fascination in your eyes Akechi noticed, something that reminded him of a child – especially with the smile you paired with it. “Oh!” You turned to face them both, giving a small respectful bow. “I’m (F/N) (L/N).”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Niijima gave a nod of acknowledgment, and Akechi forced up a small smile.
“She’ll be working with the forensic technicians,” the SIU Director explained, hands intertwined and voice laced with exhaustion. So Niijima wasn’t lying… “I hope you are able to work well with one another.” He took the opening as a sign to flee, speed-walking to the door, “I have to get going – I ask that you help her get used to the adjustments.” And he was gone.
You all blinked at the empty door, the short silence only interrupted by your nervous laughter.
“I think he hates me already,” you said, but you didn’t seem offended by the fact. You were gripping both of your elbows behind your back, tapping at the floor with your shoe.
“Don’t take it personally,” Niijima made an effort. “It’s good to know you’ll be joining us. Do you need help with anything?”
“No, thanks, I’m fine,” you answered, the smile still steady on your face. “And I hope I’ll be able to help.”
Niijima mentioned connecting your laptop to the unit’s applications and programs. You let her mess with the device, opening the opportunity for you to turn to Akechi and say, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Akechi blinked as you made eye contact. “Is that so?”
“Yep, one of the youngest detectives in the world.” You glanced at Niijima when she huffed about not remembering the WiFi password, but quickly returned your attention to him. “It’s hard to not hear about you at the other precincts… But it’s impressive; detective work is hard.”
Akechi forced a laugh, unsure where you were going with this conversation; was your ulterior motive coming to light already? But you didn’t seem disingenuous.
“Well, thank you.” No harm in feeding the alligator and seeing what it would spit back out. “Though, I’m sure forensic work is just as tedious.”
You shrugged, grinning. “I guess, but it’s more fun. I’m not really taken seriously because of my age, so that kind of ruins it, but… still fun.”
There wasn’t a better time to ask. “How old are you?” Akechi questioned.
You smiled. “Sixteen.”
Wow. “Ah, so you’re a year younger than me.” And he thought he was young.
“Looks like it’s just us two against these adults, huh?” Your teeth shone a bit with remnants of a laugh, “We need to have each other’s backs.”
Akechi just opened his mouth when Niijima beat him to the punch. “Okay, that should be it,” she professionally stood back up as if she hadn’t been glaring at your laptop for the past three minutes. “I left the WiFi information on your desk, just in case. Let me know if anything else comes up.”
You nodded. “Will do.”
“And please–” Niijima’s nose scrunched as she started toward the door. “No scheming – just because you’re young doesn’t mean you’ll be let off the hook easily. We don’t mess around here.”
A smile twitched at your lips like Niijima had said something funny, but you still said, “Yes, I understand – I’ll make sure I don’t make the director hate me and kick me out within two weeks.”
Niijima seemed content with your answer – or either she didn’t care enough to correct you – because she changed the topic, “We’ll probably have you on a case tomorrow. A woman was found in her house with a presumed death from heart failure, but the autopsy and testing results are pointing to a different cause.”
You grinned again, your eyes lighting up this time. “Oooh, sweet! I mean– not sweet for the lady, but– my first case here.”
“Just be here and ready tomorrow,” Niijima said with an amused raise of her brow.
Akechi could already tell you would receive Niijima’s rare soft side; if he had said anything like that, he would have received a ten-minute lecture about upholding the justice system. Maybe it was beginner’s luck.
She left when you both nodded. Right before Akechi could leave, you spoke again.
“You have nice hair, by the way, Akechi-kun,” you hummed, and, when he turned around, you were already separating some files, not even looking at him.
“Uh–” He winced, swiftly finding his presentable mask and slipping it back on. “Thank you, it seems to fight against me every day. I have to get going– I believe I’ll see you soon?”
“As soon as I sort this stuff out,” you sighed with a forlorn glance over your desk.
He was livid by the time he was back in his own office, but it didn’t come at once, only in small pricks at his neck at first and then eventually burning down his back like his spine and stomach had caught fire.
You seemed friendly enough, and you didn’t appear to have a covert goal with the precinct, but that somehow angered him more than if you had just schmoozed your way into the job.
The slash of envy left a swirling ache in his forehead.
He’d done so much to procure a positive image, create a personality just between charming and professional, in order to even get his job, and you were able to mosey your way into forensics – of all things – while seeming as dull and unaware as the typical class clown.
He was– no, he was disgusted that it was so easy for you, while he was left to operate to everyone’s standard. Did they make a mistake? Were you another coincidental Shido Pawn, who also used the Metaverse and blackmailed the SIU Director into working here?
With the director’s obvious distaste for you, Akechi assumed you weren’t going to keep the job for long.
Watching you examine the victim’s body in the lab the next day made him question his footing, though.
It was an elderly woman, white hair barely noticeable over the ashen color of her skin and obvious incisions from examinations where her heart was.
“When was the time of death?” you asked another technician, not hesitating in approaching the operating table.
The technician glanced at his notes, clad in a hazmat suit. “September 6, 2:56 P.M.”
“Oooh, if only the numbers were switched.” You cleared your throat when the man gave you a look, continuing, “Makes sense that it’s been four days; there’s blistering on the skin. Cause of death?”
“Reports of sudden cardiac death, with an undiagnosed heart failure condition. But there’s too little stress on the heart, and the arteries are not…”
Akechi watched as you accepted a hazmat suit from another technician, slipping into it as if you had many times before. You must have, because pulling out the tools from a drawer appeared natural for you, too.
He and Niijima exchanged a glance that indicated an equal amount of surprise; this wasn’t what she was expecting, either.
You turned to them, a confident look in your eye. “I should have the results back to you by tomorrow. Maybe later today, at the earliest,” you explained, adjusting the plastic suit and gloves.
Niijima nodded before Akechi could even process any of this, responding, “I appreciate it.”
The detective looked back at you on his way out, but you had already begun assisting a technician in carefully digging into the corpse while another took notes.
Sure enough, you turned the examination results in to Niijima the next morning; there was an alternate cause of death, and the presumed heart failure opened back up as a homicide case.
Akechi rarely heard from you besides for information check-ins and exchanges, though he assumed it was because you were constantly asked to help in the lab. He simply hoped you would be worth adding to this case – and to the precinct at all. The last thing he needed was someone dragging him down.
No additional evidence was found. If they didn’t move quickly, they would find themselves at a standstill, or, worse: another department would take over the case. It had only been about two weeks, but the tension was rising for a unit that prided itself on fast, effective handlings. The solution couldn’t have been too intricate, right?
That Thursday, you approached Akechi again.
He heard you before he saw you, footsteps practically sprinting into his office.
You swung around the corner past the door frame, only slowing once you neared Akechi’s desk. Before he could even wince and ask what the hell was the reason, you stopped beside him with a folder in your hands.
“I just got something,” you started, and dropped one of the documents in front of him. “There was some fresher DNA on the wall of the victim’s house, in the room she was found dead; it belongs to a man named Yagi Masuyo. It might not mean anything, but it’s a start since there are no traces of him anywhere else in the house. He was probably trying to hide it.”
Akechi’s eyes widened; he picked up the paper and read it over, confirming your claim – they might have just found a suspect. “This is…”
“I can’t do much with the information, so it’s up to you, detective,” you flashed him a thumbs-up, opening the file in your hands. “Let me check if there’s anything else that will help.”
While you fingered through the papers and Akechi began searching the man’s name, he mumbled, “He hasn’t been through the system before, it seems. Do you suppose he’s a relative of the victim like the detectives suggested?”
“Probably not; his DNA didn’t resemble anyone’s that we’ve found already, and they don’t have the same family name,” you replied. “But there were no signs of anyone breaking in – they must have been familiar, at least.” Your eyes lit up, and you carefully plucked a document from the center of the stack. “Ooh– this is the report from the neighbors the day of the murder; we should send someone back to ask if Yagi looks like the man they described.”
Akechi thanked you as you placed the form in his hand, reading it over. After a moment, he asked, “How did you find all of this?”
“I went back to the site; I had a breakthrough over my bowl of Lucky Charms a few days ago,” you laughed nervously, intertwining your own fingers together. “I found the DNA on the wall, realized it was different from the other samples, and got it tested… I hope this actually means something. I’m gonna feel stupid if it doesn’t.”
You looked down at him with expectant but thrilled eyes.
“I don’t have access to your detective files, so… you handle the searching and reporting with police, and I get some people to interrogate the relatives and neighbors again?”
“That…” Akechi’s mind flashed over his surprise once more before he found a part of himself to smile up at you. “That should work.”
You both stuck to your word and managed to organize your evidence into the form of presentable files. The witnesses’ observations matched up and the pieces slowly fell into place; you two were positive you had found your culprit.
The trial date arrived, and Niijima was up to the prosecutor’s pedestal.
You and Akechi were required to attend, though you weren’t asked to testify – your other colleagues in forensics handled the exhibits of proof.
The suspect was luckily found guilty. Everyone began dispersing and erupting into occasional whispers as the trial was dismissed, and Niijima closed her briefcase with prideful satisfaction.
You stood up, giggling triumphantly, while you watched police officers pull Yagi away and vanish down the corridor.
Akechi heard your footsteps pause beside him as he gathered his belongings, and you spoke softly due to the lingering quiet energy in the room.
“Thanks for checking his background for me, by the way. You did great,” you said.
Akechi smiled lightly, files clumped in his arm. “I should be thanking you for finding his DNA. We wouldn’t have found the evidence without you.”
A grin lit up your face, and Akechi was quick to tell: you enjoyed being praised for your work. He’d have to keep that in mind.
“I’m glad to see you two are working well together,” Niijima stopped next to you, interrupting your chance to respond. “It almost was looking like a dead-end. It’s shameful the culprit felt the need to kill her for being in a relationship with someone other than him. I’m relieved that you are capable of helping us and living up to your job title, (L/N)-san.”
You began swaying a bit, not out of dizziness but more of a casual fidget, it seemed. “I wouldn’t take the job if I didn’t have the experience for it. I don’t hate myself that much,” you said, and Akechi’s smile turned a bit more timorous. Right…
“Hopefully not – lying about your experience would be a reason for arrest,” Niijima moved some hair from her face, neither of the girls noticing Akechi’s small chuckle. Right… “I’d say this is a successful first case for you. Good work.”
Niijima walked off after that, disappearing out the courtroom door. You and Akechi remained.
“Enjoy the compliment from her; it’s one of the last times you’ll receive one,” Akechi warned, finally finding a safe position to carry the haphazard papers.
You made a small hum, staring after Niijima’s trail. “Good to know.”
Your eyes flicked down to the files in his arm, but you didn’t comment when Akechi tried his best to bring the conversation to a close, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
You still smiled, airy and very misleading of the abilities you’d proven in the past few days. “Yep!”
When Akechi turned toward the door, you suggested, “You know; you should get a briefcase.” He blinked, looking back to see you smiling at him. “It’s easier to carry papers.”
You skipped off, your papers few enough in number that you could hold them in a file pocket in your right arm. Akechi stared after you, his face finally settling into something neutral with the knowledge no one was watching him.
A briefcase… hmm.