TWAY (Jushiro/AFAB!Reader) Ch. 9
Please remind me to never write for this series at night. I apparently played mind tricks on myself & got too scared to sleep after writing it.
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“You always seem to forget your lunch,” Jushiro sounded behind you as you had already left the loft to head to work. You looked down at your hands; they were empty, but you remembered your bag, which was what mattered. You turned to look at him with a smile.
“At least you work for me now, so I don’t have to worry about forgetting,” but you didn't talk more. You just hurried him to follow you. “We have an old case to review for this week. The higher-ups think my reasoning is too outrageous, so they want a thorough explanation.” You mumbled angrily, your workplace was a 20-minute walk at best.
“You don't have to be running!” He calls out, but he isn't tired at all; in fact, he's caught up to your speed completely. You've been in the military for a few years, and you recognize a fighter when you meet one. He just didn't strike you as one, “Are we late or something?”
“No, I just wanted to get out of this heat,” you grumbled. As the two of you arrive at the building, your badges are fine, but Jushiro is held back because his badge has not been fully processed.
“You go on ahead, I know where your office is,” Jushiro reassured you with a smooth smile.
“You're so reliable,” you smiled, heading into the building. Your idea was to finish work early so you could go home early instead of answering questions from the rest of your team about how your roommate got the job over someone else with a degree. You pushed past everyone with the excuse that you had a lot of work, which you do have.
As you rushed into the morgue in the basement, you changed into your lab coat, putting on a mask and goggles to prevent stinging. Jushiro joined you as you pulled out reports and the body from the freezer. “Come help me carry this body to the table.” You ordered as he got changed into protective gear.
He helps you place the well-preserved body on the metallic table. “I thought this was already solved? I recall seeing the report yesterday,” you hum at the accuracy of his memory.
“The higher-ups don't believe me when I say that it was a murder of a pair because they couldn't find the wife,” you responded. Handing the camera to Jushiro, “Take pictures according to what I point at.” He nods, and you hold a voice recorder to your mouth to explain the situation.
You point to the stained blood trail from the eyes, “the patient had their eyes melted out by a strong chemical, most likely battery acid, as I've tested the remaining substance to be found in your local gas station battery acid. I suspect they've spent hundreds to thousands to procure a strong enough substance.” You spoke as the recorder transcribed your words into text. You undo the stitches to the victim's neck, pointing at the holes along the trachea with part of the lower trachea bursting out, “this type of injury would be related to swallowing something sharp like chicken bones, fish bones,” you were pointing at the scarring. You pointed at the bursting with uneven stab wounds, “these wounds correlate with needles, the uneven stabbing would be forcing the victim to swallow the needles using the remaining battery acid.” You pointed at the burned ends of the organs as they led down to his stomach. “The explosion of organ mush seen here,” you spoke as you reopened the stitched up body, “would be a mixture of battery acid, with stomach acid, the explosion could be done by forcing the victim to eat flour, as flour met with the burning of two acids can cause an explosion.” You went to pull out the message in a bottle you had received as evidence from the detectives who visited the victim's house to ask questions.
You told Jushiro to take a picture as you explained the contents, “This was found in the victim's house. Although it seemed like a confession from the wife of the victim, if you compare it to the sticky notes the wife writes down for her husband, the handwriting differs, which shows the wife does not plan it.” You put the evidence away and pull out a list of reports from neighbors, along with evidence from the officers who had ventured into the home. “The initial crime was done at home. The victim was knocked out, but the neighbors said that the victim knew the person who knocked them out. When the wife walked out, there was a fight and blood splatter, as the blood collected did not match the victim's.” You flip through reports, “I concluded that there was two victims because there was enough blood in the bathtub belonging to the wife, found in the bathtub, meaning she was bled dry. Now, it's up to the detectives to find the obsessed ex-girlfriend.” You concluded, but as you glanced at Jushiro, he raised his hand quizzically, “Yes, what is it, Jushiro?”
“How did you know it was the ex-girlfriend and not someone else?”
You looked at him for a second before a smile curled on your face, continuing to explain to the recorder, “This is an old tale from Ancient Japan, it's called Yubikiri Genman. The whole vow is actually: yubikiri genman, uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu. Roughly translating, it means: ‘pinky promise, if you lie, you will swallow a thousand needles.’” You explained, “we found a thousand needles lodged in the victim's throat and some in his stomach. I say it's an ex because some of the neighbors heard a female voice saying the victim ghosted her and got married.” Unfortunately, this is one of many reasons you didn't have the heart to settle down. “Any more questions?”
Jushiro shook his head, taking a few more pictures to print out for you, “You're very thorough.”
As you were taking off your protective gear, stitching the victim back up, and having Jushiro help you put the body back into the freezer, you grinned a little, “it's part of the job description. I like not having to risk my life catching them.” Also, because you were solving a cold case in your free time, once you deal with the issues at hand, you could do whatever you wanted to anyway—two birds, one stone, in your opinion at least.
“Didn't want to be a doctor or nurse?”
“Nah,” you made sure the recorder had shut off before you continued to talk, “I had bad experiences in the hospital when I was younger, I think I would like to avoid the place.” You sat down to edit the document, dragging the images from the camera to your document as you spoke. Jushiro was cleaning up the room, “If anything, I wanted to be a florist, but that's not how my life is intended.”
“This is a big 180 for you, then,” Jushiro laughed.
The tips of your ears heated up from his laughter, “y-yeah, I suppose it is, but I like my job now. It's pretty interesting.”
“I'm glad I asked to be an assistant, I used to know hardly anything about you until now,” he smiled.
“Just not interested in sharing about me, I don't lead an interesting life,” you leaned back into your chair, your eyes met his emerald green ones.
His smile was gentle and filled with joy. “Your life is interesting to me.”
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Sadly, I have more of a One Piece muse, so ideas been coming in slow.
Aries' AO3
