“Jinba, about what you asked me before…”
“Ooh, Yuugo! Sorry for making you come here. So?”
“An accepted it and did maintenance on it, so here it is.”
“Ooh! Thanks! Let me see and confirm how it is…”
Yuugo went to see Jinba, and handed him the bowgun Angel maintained.
Jinba changed its form and checked how it was doing, and as Yuugo looked around this room where they were alone, he remembered that Jinba was sent there as a special investigator because of the many incidents that had been happening.
Jinba finished checking the bowgun and placed it on his desk, and thanked Yuugo.
“Thanks Yuugo. And thank Angel too. Did she tell you how much she’s charging?”
“No, she didn’t say anything about money, but…”
Yuugo felt somewhat hesitant to talk about it, but he thought it was not like him to be so flustered, took a deep breath, and asked Jinba the question that was on his mind.
“I saw the name Thomas Hodgins carved into the bowgun. Who is this person?”
“…”
Jinba looked a little reluctant after hearing that question, but he soon smiled and laughed loudly.
“Hahahahaha! I see, you saw it! Well, of course. It’s not like it was hidden, and it makes sense to see it while doing maintenance…”
Kukuku, Jinba laughed with his throat before looking up at the ceiling.
He faced Yuugo again, and spoke with a somewhat self-deprecating laugh.
“…Well, this is kind of a chance. Will you listen to an old guy talking about the past?”
“Y-yes…”
Yuugo could not get a good grasp on the mood around Jinba as he nodded.
Jinba turned around and faced the window, and spoke after a big sigh.
“This man, Thomas… Was my partner. He was my buddy back when I was a newbie guard, and he was also new.”
“An old partner…?”
“Yes. Not to brag, but I was hot blooded like you… I didn’t think about myself, and had a tendency to be rash. Thomas on the other hand was perfectly cool, and never made a mistake.”
Jinba smiled nostalgically.
He took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it as he continued.
“Thomas always complained about my reckless behavior. ‘Jinba, don’t be reckless. Thinking it’s okay to die isn’t the same as actually dying.’ he would say… We were completely different, but strangely enough, we were a good match. A good combination, if I may say so myself.”
He puffed the cigarette and looked at the bowgun.
He pointed at it with the cigarette and smiled.
“Angel told you about the problems with this thing, right? It doesn’t have power, accuracy, or speed. It’s not good for battle. But the lack of power also means it won’t kill the target. It’s a good magic item to capture criminals and take back hostages. And the user can cover for the rest.”
“The way you say that… Was Thomas a master with the bowgun?”
“Well, yes. His aim was perfect… No, better than perfect. He could snipe and rapid fire perfectly. I never saw him miss once.”
Jinba praised his partner and took another puff.
He breathed in deeply, and exhaled… Yuugo saw a melancholic expression on his face, and reached some conclusions.
The name on the bowgun was Jinba’s partner.
He did not use this bowgun that belonged to Thomas, but handled it carefully.
And he always referred to him in the past… As he noticed everything he heard was from a long time ago, he guessed what happened with Thomas.
“…Jinba, could it be that this Thomas is…?”
He purposefully said the difficult part in the form of a question. And it felt as though Jinba was expecting the question.
As Yuugo expected, Jinba was not upset by the question. In fact, it seemed he was relieved it came up. And he faced down with a very lonely smile as he responded.
“…He died long ago. In the line of duty when we were investigating a case.”
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