You opened your eyes and the first thing you saw was the starry night sky. You felt something bright and warm beside you and upon turning your head, you could see a campfire nearby.
You soon remembered that you had fallen off into the waterfall, and upon remembering, you immediately jolted up.
"Itto!?— Ack!!" You were immediately greeted by an immense headache, which made you lie back down as you held your head.
"Whoa, easy there. You really shouldn't suddenly move right after you had just woken up" You heard a familiar soothing voice nearby and you slowly turned your head upward to confirm it for yourself.
The familiar young man with burgundy hair, who you have longed to see again. His olive eyes softly stared down upon you with concern.
".. Heizou...?" You muttered then your eyes widened upon realization. "This... Isn't another dream.. Is it..?"
The detective lightly chuckled at your remark. "What are you talking about? Mind filling me in the details~?" He had a slightly flirtatious tone, which made you blush and followed by an embarrassed feeling when you finally confirmed that this isn't a dream.
You slowly sat up as the headache subsided. ".. So... This isn't a dream.." You muttered to yourself, but it wasn't low enough to prevent the certain someone from hearing it.
"That is correct. Although from what I've heard, you asked if you were having another dream?" He placed his hand on his chin. "I presume that you previously had a dream about me, hm~?"
You could feel your face slowly burning in embarrassment. "Huh– Wh- N-no! Y-you got the wrong idea!!" you quickly waved your hands in denial.
"It's not very good to lie, y/n~ I can easily read you like an open book" He chuckled after giving another flirtatious tone, making you even more flustered then you immediately covered your face to hide it.
He was amused by your reaction and patted your head. "I was just teasing"
You peeked through the gap of your fingers to glance at him before you uncovered your face with a pout. He then sat down on the ground right in front of you with his legs crossed.
"Now, mind if I ask you something?" He tilted his head to the side with a soft smile. You then nodded at him as a response.
"Why did you suddenly fell down from the waterfall? I do hope you weren't planning on a death wish" He managed to keep his soothing tone but added with concern.
You glanced down to the ground as you recalled when you and Itto were being attacked by ronins and you had to save Itto on the last minute, which nearly resulted to your demise. You then glanced back at the detective who was patiently waiting for your answer, and you began explaining everything to him. After hearing your story, Heizou then nodded his head and crossed his arms.
"I see... So you both got ambushed and in order to save your companion, you decided to take the fall. Literally" He then stood up and flicked your forehead. "Man alive.. for a detective, that is the dumbest decision you've ever made. Please do not repeat the same mistake, you just got lucky because I was having my investigation nearby. Who knows what could've happened if it were to be a different story?" There was a slight hint of sorrow in his eyes.
You slowly gazed up on him and you could almost immediately tell from his expression how worried he was. "Sorry..." It was all you could say as you glanced back to the ground.
His expression then returned to a soft smile. "As long you understand, then I've got nothing else to say" He then went to grab something for a moment and returned with an apple, handing it over to you. "Here, I'm pretty sure you're feeling ravenous right now?"
You gratefully accepted the apple and started eating as the detective sat back down right beside you and watched the burning campfire. "Tomorrow morning, let's start looking for your companion"
You turned your head to look at him with a smile. "Thank you.. Heizou.."
He returned the smile. "Don't mention it~" He then started stretching his arms up. "This island is quite beautiful, isn't it?" He leaned back with both of his arms supporting his weight as he gazed upon the stars.
"Uhm... Heizou.. I've been wondering..."
"Hm?"
"When you said you accepted a long-term investigation... Is it related to the missing people of this island?" You tilted your head. It finally struck you that Heizou wouldn't just suddenly appear out of nowhere while he had just told you the other day that he would be out on a commission.
"What makes you think that?" He has a hint of slyness on his expression as he gave you a side glance.
"You did say the other day that you're off somewhere to do an investigation that would most likely take you around two weeks.. You being here could only mean that the commission you took is related to the recent missing people case, and based on the information I've collected from the locals, that is the only major incident happening on this island right now" You gave him a thorough explanation in confidence.
"Hmm... Interesting deduction~ Though you're forgetting that cold cases are also a thing" He lifted a finger.
The confidence you felt slightly crumbled as you heard his remark. "Oh.."
"Although.." He added.
"Hm?"
"You're not wrong about that" He had a close-eyed grin. "Yes, the case I'm currently taking is the missing people of Borou village.. I'm sure that's what you're here for as well, considering that Watatsumi Island is currently closed off from tourists so there's no doubt that you're not here for a vacation"
"Have you found any leads?"
"Unfortunately, no matter what kind of information I receive, I somehow always circle back to where I started. I hate to admit it, but this case will be quite a challenge, even for me"
You were slightly dumbfounded upon hearing him admit such thing.
"But hey, with you around, my intuition tells me that something interesting is about to happen~ I'm pretty sure sooner or later we'll get somewhere on this case" And with that, he then slowly stood up. "You should get some rest, I'll be first watch"
"Eh? Aren't you going to rest as well?" You tilted your head.
"Well, someone's gotta keep an eye on the sleeping beauty right~?" He flashed at wink at you. "Crime doesn't sleep after all, so we both should keep our eyes and ears peeled"
You pouted on the first half of his statement then just nodded in agreement. "Alright then.. Goodnight, Heizou" You laid back down to rest.
"Goodnight, y/n~"
Right before you drifted off to sleep, you swore that you caught a glimpse of the detective's ears with a slight hint of red from the tip when he winked at you a moment ago.