She was angry with me, all right... But for what, exactly?
I had only opened a door. Was it that bad?
Already, she had pulled me back by the arm, and closed the access to the dark room without letting me see more of its contents.
Then, making me turn toward her, she finally let go of my arm. Her nails had dug into my skin slightly, and I could now feel a burning sensation on my forearm.
Maybe she hadn't realized her grip at the time, and I had paid the price for that.
Still with her eyebrows furrowed, but with a voice already less aggressive, she addressed me:
"Don't ever open that door, okay?" She ordered me in the form of a question. "You can go anywhere but there, is that clear?"
I nodded silently in response, still a little shaken by that expression I had never seen on her before.
She must have sensed that I was slightly disturbed by her behavior, and her facial features relaxed, before she began to smile painfully at me.
"I'm sorry, Nijima-kun," she apologized, squinting her eyes slightly, this time with tenderness. "I may have reacted a bit rudely, and I apologize for that..."
No; it made me feel better that she took that attitude, but I also knew that she probably had a good reason for reacting the way she did. There were certainly things she didn't want to talk about.
I myself had things I didn't want to bring up. So I understood her, in a way.
I felt a pressure on my left shoulder, and looking up from where I had been looking down without realizing it, I saw that she had put her hand there.
"Don't take it personally, okay?" She reassured me.
She then looked down, and following the contours of my arm, her gaze fell on my uncovered forearm where red marks had appeared.
"Oh... Did I do that?" She exclaimed, surprised.
She then put her hand behind my back to drag me to the couch and force me to sit down; before disappearing into a room I now identified as the bathroom.
Then, coming back to me, she opened a tube of ointment and applied some cream on my forearm. The touch of her cold hand on my skin made me shiver, and the product she was spreading quickly made me itch.
The detective also seemed to be a little embarrassed by the situation, but I couldn't tell if it was because of the consequences of her impulsive action - the nail marks in my skin - or if it was because she was embarrassed by our sudden proximity.
For my part, I enjoyed the little shiver that ran through my body, even though I didn't really know what it was.
It was surprising and exciting at the same time, because even if I had been with her for a short time, she was already able to trigger reactions in me that I didn't know anything about.
However, I could not enjoy this any longer, because she had already got up again, probably to put the ointment away. Then, coming back to me, she stretched her hand towards me.
Intrigued, I stared at her hand, before looking up to her face, not sure what she wanted from me.
"Your phone, Nijima-kun," she said simply.
My phone? What for?
Seeing my hesitation, she then took out her own smartphone, and handed it to me.
"Re-enter your name in my contacts, I'll have to do the same with your contacts." she explained.
True enough. I hadn't thought to change her contact name, and only the nickname I had come up with at the time had stuck. But it seemed that she too, had not really registered me under my real name.
Swapping the two devices, I saw her quickly tapping on the touch pad.
"I'm also adding a second number you'll need," she added.
A second number?
She must have seen that I was wondering and intrigued, because she quickly clarified what she meant by that.
"You realized this during our first investigation together, but sometimes detective work requires quick access to certain information without leaving the premises."
I nodded. Did she mean all those messages she had exchanged with someone, then?
"You absolutely must not share that number, okay?"
Agreed. I understood that perhaps this should be kept confidential.
She finished typing, and started going through my contacts to find her name.
Except... I didn't have her name at the time, and I had put in what seemed most appropriate. It wasn't certain that she would recognize herself, unless she saw her phone number.
Then I saw her frown, her thumb hanging motionless in the air a few millimeters from the surface of the screen.
She raised her head to look at me, then back at the phone screen, before staring back at me.
" `Big Bully'? Really?" She took offense, raising a reproving eyebrow.
To me, the nickname made sense. She'd knocked me out, blackmailed me... Like some kind of gangster. Besides, she wasn't the only one who ought to feel that way.
I then showed her her very own phone screen, with a nickname she had come up with for me too.
"Because 'Brick Wall' is better maybe?" I asked in turn, without the slightest emotion.
She grimaced slightly.
"Fair enough..." She said for any excuse.
We hastened each one of our side to rectify our name, not without a certain amusement from the detective. Then, swapping phones again, I scrolled through my contacts to see what number she had added.
"Who is 'TXT'?" I finally asked after a few seconds, the strange name appearing in my list.
Madam - or is it miss? - Hiraoka then shook her head.
"For some reason you can't meet this person yet," she explained. "But I've already told them about you, so I hope that's okay."
No sooner had she said this, than my phone began to vibrate.
I had just received a message, from this mysterious 'TXT'.
'I've got my eyes on you.'
It wasn't much, but I already knew from it that this person was suspicious of me. I wouldn't blame her for that, even I knew how suspicious I could look.
And then, it was not what intrigued me the most, at the moment.
Raising my head towards the detective, I asked her a question that had been on my mind for a while.
"I'm sorry to ask you this... But I don't know how to address you. What should I call you?"