'Damn it. Why is it so hot today?! Can't you take a piss already, god?'
I was walking lazily towards the address that Ichika gave. It was a large basketball gym connected to a large mansion.
Ichika said that this was her family property so we could use it as much as we want today. Its Saturday already and tomorrow will be the day we play for the semi-finals of the basketball tournament.
We were supposed to meet up today to practice in the morning til night.
Before I peft the house, I asked everyone in the group chat if they're already at the gym. But I did not get a single reply from anyone and my message was only left at 'seen' by Minji and Ichika.
I thought that the other 4 had already arrived and was having a warm up already so they couldn't reply to me. And now that I've already entered the gym, I realized how fucking wrong I was.
"Those lazy muffickers! Dipshits ditching me! Shitbags..."
I cursed continously when I saw no one inside the gym. I know I looked like a brat throwing a tantrum but I did not give a shit since no one is around.... Or so I thought.
"Darren? Why are you the only one here?"
I immediately stopped throwing a fit and looked back when I heard that angelic voice.
"Ichika? I-I-I uh. I think practice got cancelled....yeah."
She was wearing a white sports bra and a black fitted jogging pants. While her hair was tied in a ponytail. She was sweating a lot which was a rare sight since she usually looks cute, but right now she looked really sexy.
"So you got ditched? I wanted to check on you guys so I jogged here when I saw your message. But since it seems that the others will not be arriving today. I'll be on my way then, take care Darren."
"Uh-wait!"
I called out immediately when I saw her walking away. But I honestly don't know what to say next. All I know is that I wanted to talk to her some more and spend more time together.
"What is it?"
".....Nothing, sorry."
"Sure....Have you eaten anything yet?"
"Uh, no, not yet. I was in a rush earlier cause I thought I was late so..."
"Cool. Do you want to come grab breakfast with me? We could jog their together since you're wearing your sports attire already."
I nodded at her and followed her outside the gym. We started jogging together, but it looked more like me taling her.
"You don't need to maintain that distance. I won't trip you over so no need to be so far away you know."
Ichika said as she suddenly stopped and looked back at me. I was around 10 paces away from her and we are currently jogging uphill towards a diner.
I'm keeping my distance simply because I'm conscious of this thing between my thighs.
'Its still fucking standing!? Get down already!'
I'm currently wearing a jersery shirt and a fitted jersey short with a blue KD basketball shoes. And right about now, I felt my dick twitching and bulging when Ichika looked back.
I swear to god that I'm not thinking about doing anything to her, it was just my damn physiological functions whenever my caveman instincts kick's in.
"Ah no! Its not like that. I'm just slowing down a bit to recover my stamina."
"Is that so? Then I'll slow down too."
"I-Its fine! No need to bother. Seriously..."
"Don't mind me. I invited you to jog because I wanted to tell you something."
Ichika jogged and stopped in front of me. She then glanced down for a second before quickly looking up again with realization in her eyes.
"Ohhh, so thats what it is. Don't worry I don't mind. It just means your healthy. Now come on, its already getting hotter in here."
I felt my head warming up but I still managed to nod my head at her and followed her, but this time I jogged closer to her.
"Stop glancing at my ass and jog with me side by side. I wanted to ask you something, that's why I invited you."
Ichika said as she looked over her shoulder and talked to me.
"U-uh what? No I wasn't....what did you want to talk about?"
I jogged to her side and looked straight as I asked her.
"I found a lead regarding the killer of Jacquilyn. He said he wanted to meet at the diner near here. So I invited you to help me confirm if he's telling the truth or not."
About that investigation. As a cop, it is normally my duty to investigate this kinds of cases, so even without the Stupid Council requesting it, I will still do it properlt as part of my job.
What I do thought was weird, is the fact that the Council had 'that' kind of secretary.
I always thought that secretaries were supposed to look sexy, or smart, or cute, or anything that's pleasing to the eyes. Unlike 'that thing'.
'He did look dignified and gentlemanly. So I guess that's a win'
"Why do you say so?"
"Well.....You're currently stationed at Central City PD right? The one we're meeting today said that he saw Jacquilyn with someone last Wednesday somewhere in that city. I was hoping you could check the surveillance cameras of the place he was talking about, and see if she really was present there."
"Yeah. I could check on it later. As long as its within Central city. But...how did you even found this lead?"
"His name is Allan, and he's a third year student from the school. He said that he was quite close with Jacquilyn, and that he wanted to know who killed her before the culprit was found and made public. But he didn't want to approach the police nor the Student council for his own reasons. And so he decided to bet on us. He's also a member of the Boxing club that we're working together with right now."
"Wait. The Boxing club is not that big. It only had a few members, so how come I didn't notice someone named Allan there?"
"That's because he's quite an introvert. He was good with sports but he did not like crowded places so he joined the sports club with the least members. He's also always in the corner of the clubroom behind the large punching bag, so it wouldn't be weird to not notice him."
As we talked and jogged along the road, we arrived in a highway and was now waiting for the traffic light to turn red before crossing.
It was a busy weekend so it wouldn't be unusual to have a moderate traffic this early in the morning.
When the traffic light turned red, a bunch of cars stopped before the lines and everyone started crossing the road.
I was about to start crossing too but then I saw Ichika standing still behind me.
"Did you forget something?"
"Uhh, no. You could go ahead, I'll catch up with you."
The traffic light had a couner beside it that indicates the amount of time before the light turns back to green.
I was curious on what she wanted to do first, but I did not want to annoy her so I proceeded to walk across the road alone. It was a wide road so you would need at least 15 seconds to cross the whole thing.
I got to the other side and looked back at Ichika, she was still standing on the other side and was looking towards a particular individual.
It was an old lady who was walking very slow. Some good samaritans asked if she needed assistance to cross the road, but she kindly declined all of them.
After the 4th one got declined, Ichika started moving and took out her phone. She then walked in the same pace by the side of the old lady.
She acted like she was browsing her phone and walked slowly too. She was shielding the old lady in case a dickhead driver starts his car and decided to ran her over.
The traffic light had already turned back to green at this point, but none of the cars dared to drive forward. Not until she and the old lady successfully got to the other side.
When they got to the other side of the road. The old lady looked like she wanted to say something to Ichika, but Ichika quickly pulled me and jogged away from the place.
"You're really cool."
"Come again?"
"Ah, no. I just thought, that you're really sweet and all."
Ichika did not reply and only smiled at me.
'Damnnn...She's so cute when she smile'
"We're here. He said hed be sitting near the counter."
Ichika said as we stopped in front of a large diner and entered.
Upon entering, Ichika quickly approached the table of a lone man drinking a coffee.
She took a seat in front of him and I took the one beside her.
The man in front of us, Allan, had a deep set of eyebags, brown unkempt hair, tanned skin tone, and a horrible smell.
"It smells like ass in here" I couldn't stop myself from commenting as I sat down.
"Who is this? Isn't he Darren the devil? Why's he here too?"
"Relax Allan, he's a member of the Gardening club. He's also here to help with the investigation."
"Is that so? Then would you mind if I eat as we talk?"
"Sure go ahead."
-----------
Our conversation went smoother than I expected.
Basically, he gave us the address of where he saw Jacquilyn, and the features of the men she was with. He was quite far from them so he did not have the chance to see their faces clearly, but he did see a tattoo on the upper back of one of the men.
He also gave us his number so that we could call him after we found the culprits.
"Three suspects. That's all we have for now, but if what he's saying is true then we can start asking around if they know someone with the specific features he gave us. What do you think Darren?"
"2 black male, and 1 unidentified. I'll work on it this afternoon, then I'll send you the results."
"No, not that. I meant about Allan. Isn't it odd for the 3rd suspect to be fully covered and be unidentified. It's too convenient to be true. So what if, and this only a conjecture, what if Allan was the 3rd suspect."
"He did look suspicious...and smelled like one. But I can vouch that he's not one of them."
Ichika sipped her coffee before replying.
"And that is because?"
"...Because he loved her. No, let me rephrase that...He was obsessed with her."
"Go on."
"From his words, I could tell that he was stalking Jackie for the whole night back then. He mentioned seeing her exit a salon on a late afternoon, then he saw her entering the Black Rat Pub on central city."
"So what's the catch?"
"The catch is that the Black Rat Pub is where me and my coworkers often hanged out, and it only opens at 11 pm. So that meant that Allan was following Jackie since she left the salon in the afternoom until midnight."
"Then...He's either a stalker or a self-destructing murderer. Either way we still cannot rule him out as a suspect."
"Sure...Its just that. I looked in his eyes and felt something."
"Its his sorrow. I know, I saw it too. He must've been very obssessed with her. That also explains why he looked very...unhygienic right now."
I nodded at her and proceeded to eat the eggs and bacon I ordered earlier. Ichika did the same after another sip of her coffee.
After finishing our breakfasts. Ichika put down her utensils and asked me
"Darren. Would it be okay if I tag along with you on the police station later. I wanted to check something too using the surveillance equipments of the Central city PD."
"Oh. Uhhh. Civilians are strictly prohibited inside the surveillance room you see."
"...Then. Would you mind checking it for me? I'll send you the date, place, and time later. Please?"
I really want to help her and it wouldn't be too hard to use the equipments of the Police Department, but I still want to spend a little more time with her. So I used this once in a life time chance to show her my manly side.
"I guess I could work on it somehow. But..."
"But what? If its going to put you in trouble then don't mind it. I'll manage to find another way."
"No its not that...I'll do it if you beat me in a game of pool."
I said as I pointed at the pool table near us.
Ichika looked at it and smiled before replying to me.
"Are you sure? I'm really good at it you know."
"Thats great then. Lets race to 3. If you beat me twice, you win."
"I warned you alright? Lets also add another wager. Whoever loses will have to treat the winner to a meal."
"Sure, sure."
Both of us were brimming with confidence right now as we approached the pool table and started setting up the balls.
I always saw Ichika as the competitive type. It started back when I saw her sparring up with the female members of the Boxing club. Even though she was already exhausted, she still continued to spar with her 9th sparring partner.
So I took a gamble and proposed a stupid competition with her.
'Never thought it will actually be this effective.'
She took a cue and started to break the formation of the balls.
The balls were scattered along the pool table with the positions of the striped ones being more favorable.
Our first game started and went on without a hitch.
----------
"Damn it! Another round. I'll win this time."
Ichika exclaimed with resolve in her eyes.
"Its already our 13th game. At this point you could forget treating me to a meal and be my personal chef instead."
I teased her.
"Shut up and set up the balls already."
We continued playing until the afternoon that day and I beat her 16 times in a row. At that point she just went with the reason "Let's stop for now, I'll beat you later". She looked so cute as she puffed her cheeks and looked at me with confidence in her eyes.
We also played darts upon Ichika's request. She seemed like she wanted to see if she's better at it than me.
"This shit stain is boring."
She said as I once again hit the center of the dart board with my third dart.
I beat her twice already, all the darts I threw hit dead center.
And when Ichika saw how accurate my throws are, she acted like she was bored with playing darts already and we walked out of the diner.
It was way past morning now, so we decided to go home already.
Ichika called a taxi and was about to enter, but she abruptly stopped her motion and looked back at me.
"I had fun today. Next time, lets go someplace where we could compete more."
"Me too. Then how about an amusement park next time?"
"Yeah, sure. I'd like that...I'll get going now, you take care alright?"
I nodded and smiled at her before she entered the passenger seat and drove off.
When her taxi got far enough, I couldn't contain myself any longer and started dancing and shouting.
"FUCK YEAH! I GOT A DATE! UH-HUH, UH-HUH. That's right everyone! this guy's got a date with an angel!"
The people nearby was looking at me like I was a lunatic, but I did not give a shit about them. Because I just earned myself my dream date.