“Okay,” Teruo relented. He throbbed with a mix of excitement and fear. It was a risky decision, but he was tired of taking no risks.
Miyazaki grinned, then cupped Teruo’s cheek in his palm and pressed their lips together for a fast kiss.
“I thought I said no more of that in the office,” Teruo said when they broke away.
“You didn’t saywhatI’m not allowed to do, exactly. You need to be more specific.” Miyazaki snickered. “Besides, I wanted to seal the deal.”
“Right. I’ll be specific, make a list, pin it on the wall.”
Miyazaki folded his arms. “You act all grumpy and annoyed, sir, but you like it.”
Teruo grumbled under his breath. Of course he liked it, but he wouldn’t admit it. He extinguished his cigarette, then hesitated before speaking again, “Call me by my given name when it’s just the two of us. Feels strange to be so formal when you…”
“Touched your dick in the restroom?”
Teruo cleared his throat. “Yeah, that.”
“Then call me by my given name too, Teruo.” Shinji smiled warmly when he said it.
Teruo’s throat dried up and he swallowed, stepping away from Shinji. He didn’t trust himself not to lose it and pin Shinji to the desk and rip off his clothes. His dick twitched in approval, but Teruo knew better than to do that. Thank goodness there was still a semblance of sanity in his head—more or less.
“I was thinking,” Shinji continued, “we could go to a—” He stopped mid-sentence and drew a breath just as a freezing breeze passed by, ruffling his hair.
Teruo could’ve sworn the wind hadn’t come from the open window, but from the wall to the right of his desk. That was a silly thought, wasn’t it? To his surprise, Shinji turned and stared at the wall. Teruo looked from him to the wall and back. Obviously, there was nothing there, but Shinji’s eyes were wide and lips parted.
For a second Teruo wondered if Shinji was pulling a prank, but he was too transfixed by whatever he saw to be a joke. Teruo gently placed a palm on Shinji’s back.
“You okay?” he asked.
Shinji’s body tensed for a second before relaxing. The frown disappeared from his face and he offered Teruo a serene look. “Of course.”
“A freezing breeze blew and then you stared at the wall. What did you see?”
He waved. “Just the wind from the open window. And I was a bit lost in thought. No worries.”
Teruo stood there, dumbstruck. “You stopped mid-sentence because you saw something. And the wind didn’t come from the window.”
Shinji chuckled. “Of course it did. It’s November. It’s becoming colder every day.” He smiled again, but this time it seemed fake and forced. “I wanted to propose going to a love hotel, but realized I don’t know any good ones in Tokyo.”
Teruo hummed, not buying that excuse, but went along with it anyway. “Not a hotel,” he replied. “My house.”
It was better to do this somewhere he felt comfortable. And it could give him an opportunity to try and find out what his new partner was hiding.
CHAPTER 11
Shinji
That had been a ghost all right.
Shinji stood in front of his desk, pretending to busy himself with documents as he glanced at the wall to his right.
The spirit of a man had appeared briefly in the middle of his conversation with Teruo. Shinji sensed the freezing ghostly mist and the presence of a spirit, but by the time he turned to see who it was, the ghost disappeared through the wall.
Shinji had caught a glimpse of a man, wearing sweatpants and maybe a long-sleeved t-shirt. The guy seemed slightly shorter than himself, but Shinji couldn’t be sure. It was definitely not Yamato’s spirit, so perhaps a ghost haunted the TMPD. He hadn’t seen or sensed any ghosts at the Metropolitan Police since he arrived here which wasn’t a surprise. Buildings like this were the Onmyoryo’s top priority for spectral management. However, the Shinigami—who were in charge of harvesting wandering souls—were the rarest of all supernaturals so the spirits-to-Shinigami ratio wasn’t to their advantage. Many places still swarmed with ghosts because of this.
Still, Tokyo seemed to have less spirits compared to Hiroshima—where there were at least twenty ghosts per neighborhood—which meant the headquarters here were keeping a tight leash on things.
If that ghost hadn’t been a lost one, was it possible Teruo was haunted? Spirits with strong attachment to the world of the living sometimes latched onto people they recognized and would follow them day and night. Shinji glanced over his shoulder at Teruo who was tapping at the laptop keyboard. The chief’s brows were furrowed, one slightly raised and a cigarette hung between his lips. No, he wasn’t haunted. If he had been, Shinji would’ve sensed it as ghosts who haunted had very strong auras. And Teruo wouldn’t have looked healthy as spirits drained the vitality of those they haunted. It wasn’t lethal, but it wasn’t pleasant either.