A Cop's Eyes Read Free Page B

recognized that as an evasion.
    â€œIf I could give one reason, I must have wanted to do it formy family.”
    â€œBut you don’t seem cut out for it,” Shinichi told him.
    â€œThat might be true …” Natsume stood up, bill in hand. “But cut out for it or not, you hurry and find a job too. In order to live, and to protect your dear ones, you need to work.”
    With that, Natsume left the coffee shop.
    â€œHaruna, clean up your own messes!”
    Shinichi could hear Naoko’s reproach from the other room. Usually it ended with this one shout, but today she went on to lecture her daughter at length. In time, he heard Haruna blubbering.
    He put his can of beer down on the table and went to check the situation in the other room.
    Haruna’s eyes were red from blubbering. Naoko was bending down to catch her gaze as she lectured her.
    â€œSis, could you leave it at that.”
    â€œYou stay out of it!” Naoko shot back.
    Shinichi, who’d never seen her look so severe, backed down.
    â€œHey, Haruna …” Naoko admonished in a calmer tone. “You’re big now so you have to start being able to do things for yourself. You can’t just rely on others all the time. Do you understand?”
    Haruna nodded, wiping her tears with her hands. “I’m sorry …” she apologized, looking at Naoko.
    â€œGood girl,” Naoko stroked her daughter’s head. “I’ll brush your hair. Over here.”
    Naoko went to the vanity and placed Haruna on her knee. As she gently combed Haruna’s hair, the girl’s expression rapidly turned into a smile.
    Watching the scene, Shinichi couldn’t but admire what a great big sister Naoko was.
    Neither of them knew much about the love of a parent. Afterthey lost both and were adopted by Kimura, their days were filled with abuse. It was often said that people who faced abuse as kids repeated the cycle with their own kids; that was probably because they didn’t know an adult’s love and had no idea how to show it to their own children. But Naoko, who’d been thoroughly abused by Kimura, showered Haruna with love. She raised her daughter as though her life depended on it. She was an amazing person.
    How about himself? If he were to start his own family, would he be able to treasure it like Naoko?
    Shinichi had never been in love. Or rather, he always gave up on love. Even if he did come to like and date someone, how she might respond to his past when she found out scared him. And if he ended up marrying a woman he loved and had kids, he didn’t know whether he’d be able to shower them with love, and that scared him.
    To protect your dear ones—
    He recalled what Natsume had said to him at the coffee shop.
    Was he ever going to meet someone that dear to him? Would he ever start a family he’d protect no matter what?
    On the next day too, Shinichi made calls throughout the morning, job magazine in hand. Every time he was turned down, he crossed out the wanted with a red pen. By lunch, the pages were very red. Even so, he was able to schedule interviews with two firms. One was a restaurant in Shinjuku, and the other was a construction-related business in Nippori. He was heading out to Shinjuku where the restaurant was; his visit to the company in Nippori was arranged for the next day.
    The restaurant interview, as expected, did not go well. This time too, when he honestly told them about his reformatory past, they chose their words carefully to avoid incurring a grudge, and rejected him.
    It was understandable. But he couldn’t give up. The othercompany interviewing him tomorrow might hire him, he kept on encouraging himself on his train ride home.
    By the time he got off at Otsuka station, however, he was feeling as worthless as a pebble.
    When he glanced toward the gaming arcade by the station, his legs froze. Natsume was playing a crane game at the storefront.
    The man