Page 46 of The Red Collar

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Shinji turned around, facing Teruo and his thumbs skimmed over Teruo’s jaw. “How the hell does that wake you up? I have five alarms with loud music and I still have trouble.”

“I’m a light sleeper.” Teruo peeked over Shinji’s shoulder to the other night stand where his phone was. “When’s your alarm blaring? I need to brace myself for the impending heart attack.”

“At eight. I’m not crazy like you to wake up at six thirty.”

“It’s because I cook breakfast. Sometimes I work out a bit.”

“At six?” Shinji groaned. “That’s why you’re so hot: healthy breakfast and exercising in the morning.”

Teruo chuckled. “Well, we can ‘exercise’ together this morning.” He moved on top of Shinji. “What do you say?”

“Oh, I’d like that.”

He sunk into the pillow and closed his eyes, the earlier dark thoughts washing away. Relishing in Teruo’s weight on him, he skimmed his palms over Teruo’s biceps, taut and strong, then down to his back, resting there. He loved feeling the shift of muscles as Teruo ground his pelvis against Shinji’s in a fast rhythm, their hard cocks sliding against one another. Their moans and grunts rose to a crescendo as their pace quickened. Cum spilled on their bellies mixing with their sweat.

They remained entangled, panting, their breaths slowly calming. Shinji glanced at Teruo, still lying on him, head in the crook of Shinji’s neck. He ran his fingers through Teruo’s hair, playing with the ruffled strands and eliciting a contented moan from Teruo.

Damn, this was…tender. Being in bed like this, silently enjoying each other’s company. Tender hadn’t quite been what Shinji had in mind when he proposed sex. He wanted to fuck hard and nothing more. And, hell, they sure pounded each other’s asses until late. But these sweet moments in between were the one thing he had avoided lately and yet here he was, craving for more.

Nah, this is good, whatever it is.Casual or semi-casual, who cared? Why label it? They both liked it and that was what mattered. He wasn’t in Hiroshima anymore and it was time to wipe the slate clean and enjoy life.

Teruo rose with a grunt, swiping his fist over the scar on his shoulder, brows furrowed.

“You okay?” Shinji asked.

“Hurts a bit. I think I moved my shoulder too much.”

Shinji hadn’t made any comments on it, afraid it would remind Teruo of the last case and turn things awkward. It was a vertical slash just above his armpit, lighter than his skin and the marks left by the stitches still visible.

“I’m sorry.” Propping himself on his elbows, Shinji placed a kiss on it.

His gaze met Teruo’s who seemed a bit surprised, but then he smiled and locked his lips with Shinji’s in a small chaste kiss. The tough persona Teruo put up at work dropped at home and Shinji discovered there was a gentle side to him which he didn’t show in public. Being privy to this part of his superior officer’s life excited Shinji.

“How’s your hand?” Teruo asked.

“Good. I’ll take off the bandage. It’s not that bad.”

Teruo hummed. “Shall we take a shower and then eat?”

“Oh, will you cook for me? Because I don’t cook.”

Teruo stood, huffing amused. “Don’t want to or don’t know how to?”

“Don’t want to. I’m lazy.”

“Got it.” Teruo offered his hand and helped Shinji up. “I’ll cook.”

After showering and eating they drove to the TMPD. Shinji had to admit it was a strange feeling to go to work from his boss’ house, but he could get used to it because he definitely wanted more nights like that. They entered the building together, putting a little distance between each other. Officers bowed at them, but Teruo walked on, not bothering to greet anyone. Shinji bowed back and smiled, hoping they didn’t look suspicious. No one minded them, though, most likely because of the scowl on Teruo’s face.

They spent the morning trudging through more reports. Teruo’s team of uniformed officers had interviewed the other restaurants’ managers, but nothing helpful came up, so it was clear the high school reunion was their focus.

Ozawa’s parents provided the name of the high school, an email had been sent to the principal and they were due to meet with her on Monday morning. The parents painted an impeccable picture of Ozawa’s life during her high school years. She’s been a hard-working student, who had only focused on studying. Shinji had a feeling that either the parents weren’t honest or they simply didn’t know what their daughter had been up to during high school. Records from Ozawa’s phone had been pulled too. All her calls seemed to be directed toward her friends and her parents. Yamato wasn’t on there. They’d have to narrow down the list to persons of interest and investigate further.

What annoyed Shinji the most was the lack of online traces for Yamato. He’d tried to find out if the man was in any sorts of online jogging groups or whatever else related to his hobby, but he wasn’t anywhere. Searching for the name wasn’t helping either. Only one guy with the same name had a picture, but he had nothing to do with Yamato. The search on the thread Suzuki pulled from Yamato’s fingers came up empty too. So did the clothes. They were simple, ordinary running clothes probably bought from some run-of-the-mill store they would have a tough time to find in Shibuya, a district well-known for being a large commercial center.

Nevertheless, Shinji made a thorough list of websites, forums, social media accounts, clothes stores and any other places for Teruo's team of officers to go through and report back.

After emailing it, he returned to the printed pictures of the high school reunion. The officers found a lot online from accounts belonging to Ozawa’s classmates. Her friends—Asami and Erika—provided a few more. Facial recognition identified some people, but none were Yamato, unless he was among those not facing the cameras.


Tags: M. Kato Romance