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Hagi pushes a glass of amber liquid into Rei's hand, and it's only then that he realizes he's somehow made it into his friend's apartment. Ever since he left Date's place, he's felt… lost, like he's just drifting.
Akai Shuuichi is dead, his brain tries to remind him. He swallows what Hagi gave him in one gulp, the whiskey setting fire to his throat, burning, clearing his senses. No he's not.
"Jinpei-chan called me," Hagi tells him, sitting next to him on the sofa. His presence is strangely calming, where the others had not been. Perhaps because it's just the two of them here. "Will you tell me about him?"
Rei's eyebrows draw together. "Matsuda?"
"The man in the truck," Hagi clarifies.
He should not be surprised, he thinks, that Hagi knows about that already. Rei has long suspected that there are no secrets between him and Matsuda.
What can he possibly say about Akai Shuuichi, though? He could speak of Akai being an FBI agent that he met undercover, but that's classified information. He could tell Hagi that hearing of Akai's death feels vaguely like a hot knife cutting straight through his heart, but that sentiment feels strange on his tongue.
What he says, instead, is, "He's insufferable and obnoxious. He's cocky, has no manners, smokes indoors, and lives off discounted bento boxes or instant ramen."
Hagi makes a noise that sounds far too amused – or Rei's brain is so checked out that his hearing is off. "He must be very good looking."
And that's where Rei's thoughts screech to a halt. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing," Hagi replies, but there's something still strange in his voice. "Never mind."
It bothers Rei, the way Hagi just brushes him off, but he's in no shape to argue back right now. He adds, quietly, "He is far too skilled to have died the way they say he did."
A lump forms in Rei's throat, and he attempts to swallow around it, finding that his eyes sting with tears against his will. His resolve hasn't wavered – Akai Shuuichi is alive; he knows that – but it still aches to think about the grim alternative.
"I'm going to find him," Rei says suddenly, standing.
Hagi grabs his arm and pulls him back down to the couch, too easily for Rei's liking. "Not right now, you aren't. You've been drinking."
Rei hadn't questioned the whiskey when Hagi handed it to him, but now it makes a lot more sense: it was a trap. "It was one drink," he mutters, but Hagi doesn't relent.
"And we're police. What kind of example would we be setting?" Rei doesn't tell him that he's driven in far worse states; there's a lot he can't tell Hagi. "I've already texted Hiro to come pick you up. It's best if you go sleep somewhere safe for the night. You can hunt for lover boy in the morning."
Rei squawks indignantly, wondering what the hell Hagi was told to make him think those things. "He's not– We're not– It's not like that."
Wisps of memories of long fingers playing with his hair, of a hand on his elbow in the dark, of hot breath on his ear, bodies pressed together as they hide away from their target, intrude on his thoughts, temporarily muddying his mind, but he does his best to suppress them. Those moments didn't mean anything back then, and they certainly don't now. Better not to linger on them.
"I see," says Hagi. "My mistake." But he doesn't sound like he believes he's made a mistake.
Rei doesn't know what he can say to remedy this, to convince his friend that whatever he had going on with Akai wasn't that, so he says nothing. He sits in silence, accepts another drink when it's offered to him – half, this time – and waits for Hiro to arrive. And Hagi seems perfectly content with that, as he doesn't ask any further questions.
(That, in and of itself, is somewhat unsettling; usually Hagi would not let something like this go so easily. But, perhaps, it's just because he believes he's won.)
Hiro is less frantic than Rei expects when he shows up, Matsuda in tow. "Hey, Zero," he greets gently, kneeling in front of Rei. "How are you feeling?"
"Hagi walked me into a trap," Rei answers, holding his empty glass up for Hiro to see. A smile twitches at the corner of Hiro's mouth. "Did you guys plan this?"
"That part was all him," Matsuda answers for Hiro. "I only told him to keep an eye out for you."
Rei narrows his eyes suspiciously. "Is that really all you told him?"
Matsuda grins. "I may have also told him your boyfriend died," he replies savagely.
"Matsuda," Hiro hisses in warning, elbowing him, but Rei isn't bothered. He expected this.
He huffs. "Well, you're wrong. He's not my boyfriend. And he's not dead."
"If you heard what Zero told me about him, you'd believe they're not dating," Hagi says, apparently backing him up, but something about his voice is off – there's a teasing lilt to it that Rei does not like. "Such an unflattering assessment."
"Take it with a grain of salt," Hiro counters, like a traitor. "That's how they flirt."
Rei's head throbs, and he attributes it to his friends' ridiculous assertions. Pressing the fingers of his free hand to his temples, he mutters, "I hate all of you."
Matsuda snorts. "Please. You love us. Now get out of my apartment and get some rest."
"Jinpei-chan, be nice to our guests," Hagi scolds, taking the glass from Rei, although he helps to shoo both Rei and Hiro out the door moments later.
Outside, in the cold night air, Rei leans perhaps a little too heavily on Hiro. He's not drunk, not from as little as he had, but his body feels heavy from the weight of the day. Tonight, he will rest. Tomorrow, he will start looking for Akai.